The Terror of Death against the Game of Death
by The Final Conduit
Summary: Ryou Misaki, otherwise known as Haseo, simply began playing the game out of curiosity. But, to his own ironic displeasure, the guy who told him about SAO, and The World, described it as "the game of death" after the first day of being trapped in the game. Oh how Haseo wished Skeith could be put under control more easily... Atoli x Haseo x Alkaid. Kirito/Harem.
1. A New World

Ryou Misaki looked at the gaming system, holding the headset in his hands, looking at it vacantly.

He'd only just gotten the new game, Sword Art Online, but unlike his friend, who was eager to get the game, he himself just got it out of...

...he didn't even know why now that he thought of it.

He simply remembered his friend telling him about the game, and how fun it had been, since he'd been a beta tester for it.

Ryou held the headset in one hand, supporting his head on his palm as his elbow pushed into his knee.

"You've got to get it man! It's even better than "The World"!" He could remember him telling him a couple of weeks before then.

Ryou sighed, leaning more heavily on his knee.

Typically, around this time of day, he'd be in the world, trying to find clues as to where his online friend was in "The World", known to most as Ovan (or at least, the people who personally knew him, as Ovan had the undying habit of being seen but disappearing shortly after.

Though it often was very irritating, but most times hopeless, Ryou never stopped his search for Ovan, going to different areas that hinted at him being there, yet all ending with Ryou coming up with absolutely nothing.

Sure, he swore with his friend, Shino, that he'd find him someday.

But, after three months of searching, Ryou was tired of what seemed to be an endless wild goose chase to him.

Maybe that was the reason he'd gotten the game...

Ryou had been playing "The World" for almost an entire year now, and with his Xth form, the challenge of the game had lost itself.

But, he noted, he never really had played the game for fun or anything like that to begin with...

He could remember the first day he ever played the game.

Two people who seemed petty friendly had taken him somewhere to help him get used to playing the game.

But just before he was about to beat the level, he was betrayed by the same people, them almost killing him.

Almost.

If it hadn't been for Ovan, he'd definitely would've gotten player killed (or PK'ed for short).

Even to this day, Ryou wondered what would've happened had he never met Ovan...

He closed his eyes at his thoughts, one sentence forming in his mind's eye.

He probably wouldn't have been nicknamed "The Terror of Death" by PK'ers, most definitely.

But...

No, he shook his head, he'd probably have something similar happen to him again in the long run.

Especially with the, to this day, unknown phenomenon, AIDA, going wild on the network, he'd probably STILL end up going through all the things he had.

He sighed, then smiled.

Oh well.

Nothing he could really do about it now. And besides, he had saved both "The World" and the real world itself.

He should've been proud of himself, like all the other members of G.U. who helped out.

Speaking of them...

Ryou looked to his other game system, looking for a moment, then moving, sitting at the desk he himself made for himself.

Maybe before he played SAO, he'd check his email...

He started up his system, seeing the loading bar up, and seeing the main menu of the game he'd become so used to that he paid it no attention.

A message appeared on his screen, and he smiled in interest when he saw the words, "You have 4 New emails." With the mail symbol along with a number "4" on the left side of it.

He moved the options with his controller, and he saw immediately who they were from: Silabus, Gaspard, Atoli, and Alkaid, in that order.

The one from Silabus read: _"Hey, Haseo! Did you hear about the new MMORPG? A lot of people are talking about it in the forums. Some of the beta testers tried going to the world, and now so many people are getting it. I got the game today, are you ever going to try playing?"_

Ryou smiled.

He wondered if Silabus was going to try and make something similar to Canard there when he got the hang of things.

That was his way of doing things after all.

He opened Gaspard's email then, reading it, his much more portly friend's voice coming to his mind as he read: _"Haseo! Guess what?! Me and Silabus just got SAO! I'm so excited about it!"_

He kept smiling, leaning on his palm.

Just the same optimist as Gaspard always was.

Maybe he'd meet them when he himself went into SAO...

He clicked on the third, from Atoli.

_"Hello Haseo, how have you been? I wanted to give this to you to say that I won't be online as often as I used to be. You see, I'm interested in seeing what the new MMO is like. But it was pretty hard to do anything when I first played "The World", and I'm not sure if I'll be any different with this one, so it might be a while before I come back into "The World." Lol_"

Now, Ryou was having a feeling of strange coincidence as he read it.

A lot of people were getting this game.

It really must be a big deal after all, huh.

He wondered if Alkaid was any different...

"_Hey there Prince Charming. :-)_" were the first words Ryou saw on the screen.

The sophomore in high school could already tell that there was going to be teasing in the mail.

Alkaid had gone from hating him, to befriending him, and somehow after coming out of her AIDA induced coma, she seemed to make it a point to always tease him at random times.

And somehow, the boy always felt himself become flustered when it happened.

Shaking th thoughts off, he braced himself.

But to his surprise, it was for nothing.

"I'll be going to try out this game that Atoli told me about. I didn't really want to, but since Sirius and Taihaku are about to try it, I just thought, 'Why the heck not?' I will say though, the line was something that I'd never even seen before. Not even the line for "The World" was anywhere near as bad! I actually wanted to leave there after a while, but I didn't since I felt like I would've wasted several hours of my life for nothing."

Ryou raised an eyebrow.

The tough Alkaid, former Emperor of the Demon Palace Tournament in "The World"... was complaining about a line?

"So, the members of Icolo won't be able to log into "The World" today. See you!"

He blinked at that, then looked back at the case for Sword Art Online.

It really was an irregularly popular game.

The strange thing was that he wondered if he'd even hear about it had it not been for his friend.

But then again, he probably got the idea of playing "The World" from him too.

With that thought, he turned the computer off, the other system on, placing the headset over his head, closing his eyes as the images flooded into his mind.

* * *

Many cyan circles went in front of his head, each loading themselves up, every one for one of the five senses.

"OK" they said when finished.

Ryou was somewhat taken aback when he saw the sign come up after he created a user name and password for himself.

Data from "The World" still available. Would you like to use it?

He would've blinked had his eyes still be open.

What the heck was data from "The World" doing in this?

Was CC Corp involved in this game in any way...?

He shrugged the thought off, looking at the "yes" option and imagining it being clicked on, seeing the screen carry out his wish.

The screen turned gray then, with white words flashing up in the middle of it: Welcome to Sword Art Online.

Then a light appeared behind the words, and he was taken into it, blinding him momentarily.

When it faded, he opened his eyes, only to see a town he'd never been in before.

He looked around, then looked down at himself, seeing himself wearing the clothes he'd usually wear in "The World".

A white sleeveless t-shirt with armor like bands on his lower arms, that somewhat showed his midriff as there was a cut going up the middle of his abdomen, with matching pants that were tucked into more armor like objects around his shins, complete with shoes that were a variation of white, red, and black.

He looked at himself, surprised at how identical he was from "The World".

Then he looked around himself, seeing many others logging into the game.

He began moving himself, marveling at how much he actually felt his movements.

This was incredible...

Smiling, Ryou, or Haseo as his character name said, looked to the beautifully crafted world of Sword Art Online.

Alright, he thought to himself, let's see what this place has to offer...


	2. World Genesis

Ryou, or Haseo as his PC name said, could be found hours later, roaming the world of Sword Art Online.

He was on top of a cliff, overlooking the world, his face poised as he gazed upon it.

He closed his eyes, leaning his head back lightly, sighing softly, relishing within the peace and quiet of the area he was in.

Maybe he'd take that advice Atoli had given him a few months ago, Haseo thought, remembering how she acted when they were in "The World".

Back then, he lashed out at her for saying something so weird.

Though that was only because of the fact that she looked so much like...

His character's red eyes opened up, looking towards the sky.

Shino...

Shino had been a close friend of his, but ever since she'd been PK'ed by Tri-Edge, she'd been in a comatose.

That was, until recently that is.

Ever since the Epitaph Users defeated Cubia...

He smirked, seemingly not noticing the rock that was sent hurtling his way.

That was until he leaned his body to his right, watching as it flew over the cliff, the game's artificial gravity making it plummet down the side of the cliff, the fall nothing Haseo wanted to know about.

For he was turning around, looking at the forest laid behind him.

The way it was so heavily forested made it an almost ideal place to hide if you were to try to hunt anyone.

Yet, Haseo iterated the word "almost" as he thought.

"You, hiding behind those trees. Come out, it's not like I didn't know you were there to begin with."

He got a chuckle as a response.

Haseo could hear the grass rustling as a figure walked out from theur hiding space.

"I see you're as sharp as ever." A short, red haired girl said, smiling, her voice that of an impression of what a tough person would sound like, though it seemed a bit unfitting for a girl.

She had a short crop sleeveless t-shirt with an object that resembled a fan connected to it, a makeshift belt that looked like an animal skin wrapped tightly around her waist, which led down her black baggy pants, which soon went in a pattern of black and red arrows, finally to her sandles.

"And I see you're as lively as ever, Alkaid." Haseo commented, hand on his hip.

She gave a warm smile, "Thanks. I didn't think I'd see you here so soon though. Or at all really." She walked next to him, joining him in gazing upon the vast world.

"So you say hello by trying to attack me with a rock?" Haseo responded.

Alkaid would have to look at his smile to see he meant the comment lightly.

"Yeah. But I'm glad you made it here." She admitted, "I guess I just got used to being around you so much, you know? I guess it just wouldn't feel the same without you around..."

"Alkaid?" Haseo looked at her.

She punched him on the arm, "Forget what I said." She said, "Besides, I bet you and Atoli are already together. She did get a head start on me when I was in the hospital."

Haseo flushed, but still scowled, "No way would me and that idiot ever get together." He responded in a rather harsh tone.

"I was only joking." Alkaid was looking at him, hand on her hip, her trademark smirk streaking her lips, "I thought you'd know that I'm persistent and stubborn by now Haseo."

The junior in high school gave no response.

"Hey, Haseo," Alkaid moved in front of him, so they were meeting their eyes as she looked up at him, "You wanna try dueling? It's a pretty awesome thing you can do here."

"Dueling?"

"Yeah. Wanna try it?" Alkaid asked.

He nodded after a moment, seeing the challenging look in Alkaid's eyes.

Alkaid told him to wait, then used a menu that Haseo knew nothing of until that moment, and within seconds, a message appeared in front of Haseo:

**You've been challenged to a duel.**

**Do you accept**?

He pressed the "Yes" icon, and his health bar and Alkaid's appeared before their respective characters.

"Ready?" Alkaid drew her twin blades, "Use your twin blades."

Seeing no reason not to, Haseo pulled his own twin blades out, just in time for Alkaid to loudly say, "Go!"

They both began sprinting away in the same direction in that split second.

"First one to reach 50% health loses!" Alkaid yelled over the sound of wind howling lightly in their ears, their feet scraping the grass in an ever rustling harmony.

"Fine by me!" Haseo responded, and he had to look up when Alkaid jumped in the air, only to be blinded by the sun.

He barely brought up his blades in an X formation to block the downward slash she threw at him.

He was left unprotected to the kick she sent to his stomach however.

Haseo went stumbling back, surprised at the fact that he really felt the pain.

He narrowed his eyes, then returned to his battle stance, seeing Alkaid do the same.

They did a stare down for a moment, then charged each other, their hair being blown back by their speed.

Alkaid went for a standard slash at Haseo's head, which he dodged quickly, ducking under the blade and giving a slash of his own to her torso.

She brought up her blade just in time and the two weapons clashed with an angry scratch.

Simultaneously, the dual blade users brought their knives at their opponent, Haseo's going up and Alkaid's slashing down.

As both of their blades met, they held each other, both pushing against the others' might.

Regardless, it was at a standstill for a long time, for each person stood their ground unfalteringly.

"This is just like olf times, isn't it Haseo?" Alkaid yelled, the fight getting her in a fired up mood.

Then Alkaid leaned back suddenly, making Haseo lose balance, falling forward, only for Alkaid to push him roughly away, so hard he went tumbling backwards.

Right when the edge of the cliff was behind him.

He took the step in ignorance to what was behind him, and he slipped and began to fall down a high cliff.

Alkaid ran as fast as she could, throwing herself at the edge at the last second, looking down the cliff with her head hanging off of it.

She saw Haseo hanging on to his weapon, which he had implanted in the cliff's side.

He had switched his weapon to a scythe, and held onto the end, it being the only thing keeping him from plummeting to his death.

"Hang on!" Alkaid commanded, and Haseo fought the urge to tell her he hadn't much choice, watching as she aimed at the ground with her right blade, reaching down towards him while holding tight to the deep rooted sword.

Seeing what she was trying to do, Haseo climbed up his scythe slowly but surely, wrapping his hand around hers.

When it was tight around his hand, Alkaid pulled up with all her might, gritting her teeth at the slight strain she had to use in her muscles, and began to rise from her kneeled down position, releasing the tight hold she had on her blade, using both hands to get him up.

Haseo managed to bend his blade so that it dug itself out of the soil of the cliff, and when his head was just above the cliff's edge, Haseo swung his scythe up, and it landed on the ground, blade end being his new tool for climbing.

Pulling himself up with Alkaid's help, Haseo found himself laying face down on the ground a moment later.

He surprised himself as he realized that adrenaline was pumping in his veins, even though it was only in a game.

"That... that all felt real..." Haseo said to himself, out of breath.

"Yeah, I guess that's why this game's so popular." Alkaid responded, him not seeing what she was doing, "But do you want to know something else?"

"What-"

He stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening as pain spread to his back, looking behind him only to see Alkaid piercing his back with her twin blade that wasn't stuck in the ground.

He could hear his health bar making an obnoxious but continuous sound effect, finally reaching the halfway point when a sign appeared in front of him, the writing clear to him:

**Winner: Alkaid.**

"I win." Alkaid voiced the sign's words, pulling her twin blade out of his back, helping him up.

Haseo gave her a look, but sighed, accepting his defeat.

Together, they turned to her other twin blade, and together, they grasped it and yanked it out of the ground.

* * *

They could be found together an hour later, sitting along the cliff, seated while the duo talked, the sun now on the western horizon as they conversed.

But, out of the blue, "How's Endrance doing?"

It struck Haseo as unusual that she'd ask that (she DID have what many would call a grudge against him), so he commented on it, "Why do you ask?"

"Because, a lot of people are saying you got married." Alkaid said, a serious look on her face.

Haseo felt himself cringe.

He could remember that happening.

He and his friend, Kuhn, had bet on something, but Haseo lost, and as a result, he had to invite Endrance to a Hy Brasail, an event where people got married (and guess who the guests of honor were!).

The only comfort Haseo found in it was that it was on April the 1st, or April Fool's Day.

He only hoped that people realized it then.

The thing that countered this comfort was the fact that Kuhn had taken the liberty of inviting several of the girls he knew to that wedding.

Pi, an older woman who was an employee of CC Corp., Atoli, and Shino.

Pi had only looked at it with a shocked expression, even as the man and bride kissed (Haseo still got chills up his spine at the thought).

Shino had a similar look, only her voice was still calm and collected, unlike Pi's taken aback one.

Atoli, on the other hand, seemed to fall to pieces at that when she finally realized who was marrying who.

And Kuhn could be found laughing his ass off not too long after it was all over.

A darker side of Kuhn was revealed that day, for he said he did it as revenge on Pi for beating him up so badly one time (Shino and Atoli were just coincidentally there at the time).

When given background on this, Haseo couldn't help feeling a bit of irony, for if Kuhn hadn't won the bet, Haseo would have him choose only one girl to flirt with in the world.

But sadly that wasn't the case.

When everyone realized what had happened, Atoli put some considerable distance between them for about a month before deciding to forgive him.

Shino said she'd forgiven him outright at first, but Haseo sometimes wondered with the looks she gave him.

Pi on the other hand...

"I'm guessing that was true." Alkaid said as he noticed him cringe, looking away after a moment.

"...well... it's true and it isn't true..."

"Then explain it to me." Alkaid looked at him, and a Haseo realized there was a bit of hurt in her eyes, despite her light scowl.

And after a while of explaining, that hurt changed to some surprise, then when he told her about how Atoli reacted, she burst out laughing.

"I can imagine her falling to pieces because of that." She chuckled, Haseo scratching his head and letting a somewhat sheepish look get on his face.

"But, I'm sort of happy though."

"Huh?" Haseo looked at her.

"My Prince Charming isn't homo after all." Alkaid punched him rather harshly in his arm.

Haseo lifted that same arm a moment later, biting back the pain, looking at his hand.

"It's pretty amazing how you can have the experience of doing things in real life while still in the game..." Haseo commented, clenching his hand into a fist, not really saying how weird this felt.

After all, spending what had felt like hours in the AIDA server the phenomenon for which said server was named after, and having no way to return to the real world, due to the fact that logging off wasn't an option, the entire experience left him not wanting to have anything to do with AIDA, his sole purpose for getting involved in the first place (as well as a few other addings to that reason) Haseo really didn't want to feel like he was trapped again.

"Well, I bet it's about time I log out now." Alkaid said, pushing herself up to her feet.

"...hey Alkaid, can you tell me how to log out of here?"

"Hm?" Alkaid looked at him, "You didn't read how to in the manual?"

"I didn't really read the manual," Haseo admitted, standing up himself, "With so many people saying that this was so great, I just wanted to try to just play it and leave it."

"Well, you should be relieved I like to read so much." Alkaid said with an air authority in her tone.

"You like to read?" Haseo asked, looking at her.

Her eyes widened as she realized what she said, "Forget I said that."

"Why? I'm... curious. Why would you try acting so tough all the time when you like to read so much?"

"I don't like it THAT much. Just a little..."

"Then explain how someone who likes to read only "a little" would read a whole manual and memorize it all on the day you got it."

"I didn't memorize it all!" She defended.

"How do you add people to your party?"

"Well, it's just like the way you do it in "The World", only-" Alkaid stopped herself mid-sentence, "...shut up."

Haseo smirked.

She flushed angrily at his expression, then sighed, "Just shut up and let me show you how to log out . I leave you here all by yourself." She said.

Haseo only shrugged.

Alkaid walked next to him, and lifted her right hand, all fingers bent except for her middle and forefinger, "First you lift up your hand like this," after Haseo did as was told, she continued, "Then you pull it down through the air, like this," she slashed her fingers down, and a line of circles appeared in front of her.

Haseo copied, and the same went for him, a line of circles appearing in front of him, and Alkaid continued.

"Then at the bottom if your menu you should see..." she suddenly trailed off, staring at her menu.

"What? What's wrong?" Haseo looked at the bottom of the menu, and saw a faded circle at the bottom.

Then he realized, faded writing was next to his, which said "Log Out" in his language.

He tried pushing it, yet he found that it was... broken? Not working?

Maybe it was the former.

Hopefully he'd just jinxed it with his thoughts and...

No. He wasn't so stupid to actually believe in jinxes.

But that didn't explain why the log out button wasn't working though...

He looked at Alkaid, seeing her only looking back at him.

"Maybe it's a bug." Alkaid mused, shrugging her shoulders.

"It's okay book worm. Everyone makes mistakes." Haseo responded calmly, walking away, "I'll go to the town and ask if anyone else knows."

"Hey! I'm not a book worm!"

"I was only joking." Haseo said over his shoulder, then started walking away again.

He could hear the sound of feet scraping against grass a moment later, and as it reached his side, Haseo didn't need to look to know Alkaid was next to him.

A few minutes into the walk, he felt her eyes on him, voice suddenly much softer than before, "Hey, Haseo..."

"Yeah?" He glanced in her direction.

"Is it alright if I tell you a secret?"

He took a moment to respond, "Sure. I won't tell."

"The truth is... I kind of AM a book worm. I like to read books so much that it's an obsession almost."

"Really? What's your favorite book?"

"I like the Chinese classics like "The Water Margin" and..." she seemed somewhat embarrassed to say the next title, "'Romance of the 3 Kingdoms'." Just based off the title of the latter mentioned book, Haseo found himself wondering if everytime she called him "prince charming" it was a small reference to that, "But I think I'd have to throw in Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series." The last two names definitely made him wonder if her flirtatious nickname for him was in reference to those.

"That's good. I never really got into reading. But it's good that you have at least."

"Yeah..." She looked at him, "Just don't tell anyone."

"I won't tell anyone." Haseo said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm serious Haseo."

"I know. And I wouldn't want to ruin the reputation of the "cool, super hot, bad-ass chick that TOTALLY should have beaten the crap out of me for kicking her off my team in Holy Palace tournament"." He said, quoting a forum post of a guy who didn't seem to have a very positive view of him but really liked Alkaid, praising her as though she were God.

"Someone said that about me?" Alkaid looked in surprise.

"Yeah, though I saved you a bit of the more... graphic writing in that forum post." He could recall the several curses the guy had said of him.

If it were in the game though - hell, even in real life! - Haseo would probably have kicked his face in from how stupid and insulting he sounded all at once.

"...do YOU think that too?"

"What?" Haseo returned to the present, "What he said about you or how he wished you'd kick my ass for allegedly kicking you off the team?"

"The first thing. And be honest." Alkaid had gone red again, but only slightly now.

Haseo stared, then thought for a moment, "Cool... I'm not sure. Bad-ass... Yeah, definitely." He admitted. She was still looking at him. "Super hot, though... I don't really know. I honestly can't say. I can't even say you're cute." He said bluntly.

"What?" Alkaid said in a somewhat offended tone, actually stopping in her tracks.

Haseo looked back, "After all, what can I really say from just your Avatar?" He pointed out, "After all, for all we both know, you could either be this really nerdy looking girl," she pouted, but he didn't seem to care, "A really beautiful girl, or, as it's very possible, we could BOTH be posing as the opposite gender, without either one of us knowing to begin with."

Alkaid didn't give a response to that, thinking about it.

"...yeah, you're right..."

Suddenly, a bell tolling in the distance brought them to attention, and they looked in that direction, only to have a light burst up around their bodies, enveloping their bodies as it made them disappear.

They reappeared in an arena type coliseum, and surrounding them were other players.

Hundreds, if not thousands of other players.

Many were walking around, wondering just what the hell was going on.

Alkaid and Haseo looked around themselves, seeing more and more players filling the area.

"Where...?" Haseo looked around himself, as did Alkaid, as they took in their surroundings.

But suddenly, a voice boomed over them all.

"Hello players. Welcome to my world." A giant figure spoke, its robe and hood covering his face from view. "Many of you may be wondering about the lack of the log out button in the menu. I assure you, this is not a bug in the system. For now, you will be trapped in this world. And if any force on the outside world tries to remove your NerveGear headsets, then an electrical shockwave will be sent to your brain, thus killing you. The same will happen if you ever die in this game." He said unfalteringly.

Many cries of outrage came in response to this.

But he went on, never caring of their yells.

"I wish to give to you a gift. Open your items section in the main menu and use the new item."

Many players did this, and as Haseo did the same, he saw what it was as he saw it have a "new" icon blinking next to an item he'd never heard of.

"Mirror?" He said to himself, pressing it.

A small mirror fell then, and he caught it, looking right into it and seeing his own reflection.

A flash next to him made him look at Alkaid again, and was shocked to see her become engulfed in light.

The same happened to him, and when the light faded, he opened up his closed eyes.

He looked down at himself, seeing his hands.

Nothing looked different...

"Haseo..." He turned at Alkaid's voice, hair swaying at his rotation, only for his eyes to go wide.

Where Alkaid once was, a girl around his age with light brown hair that came down to the scrape of her neck and eyes that were just as brown had replaced her.

Alkaid gave him a similar look, and he could see his own reflection in her eyes, his hair significantly darker, face the same way.

He pulled at his hair, looking at it, surprised to see it was now brown instead of white as well.

"Right now, how you look is a reflection of yourself in real life. Now, I repeat, it isn't a defect of the game that you cannot log out. If you wish to escape this world, you must work your way through all 100 floors and defeat each boss. All of you will remain here so long as this is not done. Welcome, to Sword Art Online."

The man's body disappeared with that, crumbling to ashes in the air.

Haseo looked around himself quickly, Alkaid doing the same, almost already expecting what came next.

And as it did, to Haseo, it was as though everything was suddenly in slow motion.

All of the players began shouting at the area where the game creator was once floating, though he'd gone now already.

Alkaid and Haseo looked towards each other, "We need to find everyone." Haseo said.

"Alright, we'll look for Atoli and everyone else." Alkaid agreed instantly, brown eyes steeled in determination.

"Do you wish for me to accompany you Haseo?" A new voice said behind them.

At the voice, Haseo turned slowly, jumping back in surprise when he saw who it was.

A pale skinned boy who wore a red hat and attire on his body, covered in different symbols, spiky hair once blue but now brown.

"You?!" Haseo pointed.

"I guess you can't recognize me right now... sorry. This was my dad's old avatar. Look." He pointed at his health bar, curled like a halo above his head.

As Haseo looked, he couldn't believe his eyes.

Slowly, as he looked at him again, the boy before him spoke once more, "Do you remember me now, Master Haseo?"

_"Zelkova?!"_

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed. ^_^**

**Explanations will be given next chapter. **


	3. Reunion

Haseo, Alkaid, and Zelkova weren't very successful in finding any of their comrades.

After a week's worth of searching, they gave up after a while, at least for the moment.

They changed their initial gameplan when this happened.

"It's probably best if we try beating the game first. Everyone's in-game levels were pretty high in "The World", so they should be able to take care of themselves. After all, everyone has a level of at least 139. Even though the mirrors halved our levels, it still shouldn't be so difficult to beat the level." Zelkova said, the trio gathered around an area map he'd pulled up for them to see, it being sunset yet again as they were huddled together in a field.

Haseo had adjusted to his new appearance, though he was surprised such a young child could actually be the same Zelkova he'd known in "The World".

Despite this, when questioned about the matter of why his avatar was the way it was, Zelkova was promptly interrupted by a person pushing him over and making him fall flat on his face.

Zelkova surprisingly was cool headed about that guy doing that, even as both Haseo and Alkaid checked on him to see if he was okay.

He simply got up, wiped himself off, and told them they needed to start searching for their comrades.

Asking now would be a bit irrelevant to the task at hand, Haseo thought.

"So we're going to try and beat the level?" Alkaid said, looking to the child.

"Yes, but I think we'll need to find more allies in order to accomplish that." Zelkova trailed his finger over the map.

"How do you think we can do that Zelkova? It's not as though we can just ask a bunch of people to fight with us; they would already be fighting to begin with." Haseo asked him.

"Yes, that may be true, but I've been hearing a lot of a meeting that's due to be starting tomorrow. It's said to be so that people can gather together and try to beat it as well, or at least the first boss rather."

"So that's our plan?"

"Yes." Zelkova nodded, and that had been the end of that conversation.

Looking back on it a few hours later, Haseo sighed as he lay in his bed on his side, facing the wall, the room rented out with the little money the three could manage to come up with doing several quests.

Laying in the dark, the sole light of the moon beamed obnoxiously all over him.

But even if Haseo didn't have that factor, he admitted to himself that he wouldn't be able to sleep well.

He clenched his fists tightly, doing the same to his teeth, brown eyes narrowing in deep hatred.

Just the inescapable fact that he was stuck here pissed him off.

Sometimes he just wanted to just - !

He swung his fist up in the air, then slammed it in the bed's side, the wood supporting the mattress being damaged greatly.

Haseo bit back his own pain, scowling deeply as the wood of the bed reformed itself and bounced his fist away.

"Damn it..." He seriously wanted to kill the Game Master at that moment.

What the hell was wrong with him? What kind of guy, with all those brains and resources, just squander it all through something like this?!

He sighed heavily, letting his head fall back on the mattress, closing his eyes.

But, he started reasoning with himself, there really was no point in getting angry. Now he was stuck in this world. He might as well accept the circumstances. Anger would only distract him.

It was a rather useless emotion, in truth.

"You can come in Alkaid." He said after a moment of silence, eyes opening.

Another moment, and Haseo looked up as the door creaked open, revealing the short girl.

"I guess I'm not that good at hiding, am I?" Alkaid said, usual confident self replaced by a deflated version of herself.

"You apparently suck at stealth Alkaid." Haseo lifted himself up, resting his elbow on his now bended leg, looking up at Alkaid, "What did you come in here for?"

She didn't give an answer for a moment, only gained a sudden interest in her sandles.

Then, "Is it alright if I sleep with you tonight?"

Haseo blinked in surprise, then looked at the girl before him, seeing her rather awkward body language.

"..." He stared for a moment when he realized just how serious she was about the request, "What's wrong with your room?" He asked after his own moment of silence.

Alkaid had a light shade of pink tinting her face in that moment, and she started walking away then, putting up her tough guy front again, "Forget it. It's nothing."

Haseo looked after her, then sighed, pulling himself out of bed, following her and quickly taking grasp of her arm in the hallway, "It's fine Alkaid. You can sleep with me."

She looked back at him, then nodded silently, eyes softening.

Together, they walked back to Haseo's room, and they sat together after closing the door behind them.

They simply sat together in silence, neither knowing what to say.

After a few minutes passed, Haseo looked at Alkaid, "You holding up alright right now?"

"Yeah, I'm... fine. Just still a bit... pissed off..." Alkaid admitted.

"Welcome to my world." Haseo voiced, eyes looking down.

"Sorry about this..." Alkaid looked at Haseo, but he waved it off.

"So long as we don't have a repeat of what happened when you, me, and Atoli were fighting together in the arena, I'm fine with it."

Alkaid had to crack a smile at the thought of that, "The look on your face was priceless that day."

"I wonder how it'd feel to be put into that position by your own comrade, see how you like being thrown into that kind of misunderstanding." Haseo responded bluntly, scowling at her.

"You dug yourself into that situation; don't blame me!" Alkaid smirked.

They were talking of how in the Holy Palace tournament, Alkaid and Haseo had been training together to get stronger, but when Atoli had returned to them ready to fight, Alkaid deliberately messed up the details of the training with few small but very misleading words: "Super hot, super secret training."

Just the word, "training", wasn't enough for her, was it?

Atoli got the wrong idea, of course, and the more Haseo tried to clear up the misunderstanding, the more he seemed to guide Atoli away from accepting his own words.

She had become visibly cheeky after that moment.

Seeing the disdain in his eyes, Alkaid bonked him on the head playfully, "Sorry, I guess." She apologized meekly.

She only gained a sigh as a response.

"Were you only here to tease me again?" Haseo asked her.

Alkaid shook her head, though she seemed a bit more relaxed then before.

"I just couldn't sleep. And I'm willing to bet you weren't able to sleep either." Alkaid looked up at him, and Haseo knew he couldn't deny that fact.

"But why can't you sleep?" Haseo looked to her, questioning in his eyes.

"I guess it's the fact that I'm stuck here with no way of talking or seeing my friends or family for a while." Alkaid said, looking up at the ceiling, "And the fact of the matter is, you guys are all I have right now. I'm just scared of losing you, if I'm to be honest." She pulled her knees up to her shoulders, hugging them, looking at the floor beneath her sadly, "I miss everyone... the people from the reading club, my friends from school, my family..."

She rested her head in her arms, crossed arms clenched tightly.

"Hey," Haseo said, and even before Alkaid looked up at him, he already knew her face would be glistening with tears, "We'll get out of here. You just try your best to help us get to the real world."

"You mean it?" Alkaid asked, and Haseo sighed.

"Of course I mean it. You really think I wouldn't mean something like that, the circumstances we're in right now?" Haseo looked at her, the rhetorical question hitting the girl and striking a chord.

"..." She closed her eyes, shaking her head with a smile playing back onto her face, "No, I don't think you would."

"Good." Haseo stood up suddenly, "Now, I'm betting you want to get some shut-eye before the morning. Try resting up."

He stretched his arms out in the air, and he felt the joints in them straightening out with a realistic crack.

"Yeah," Alkaid lay her head down on the bed, "I'm ready to go to sleep. You?"

Haseo only responded by pulling a chair next to the end of the bed closest to Alkaid's feet, sitting himself down, crossing his arms, and leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed.

"Haseo?" Alkaid looked up at him, looking at him questioningly.

"What?" Haseo looked at her, opening his eyes somewhat.

"Aren't you sleeping on the bed?"

"You simply said you wanted to sleep with me. You didn't say anything about me literally sleeping in bed with you." He went back to resting his head on the wall.

"Then I'll change the question then," Alkaid got up, got into an all fours crawling position, and started crawling to him, "Do you want to sleep with me in bed?"

Haseo blinked in surprise at the mischievous glint in her eyes, which mixed with the innocent smile that her lips creased into, and his cheeks reddened at the question.

Yet still, his answer was still blunt.

"No." Haseo said, even scooting his chair a few inches away for emphasis, trying to hide his face from Alkaid.

Alkaid laughed then, hands over her stomach, "I just love messing with you, man!"

Haseo only deadpanned her with a scowl, "Go to sleep Alkaid."

"Yeah, alright." Alkaid let herself fall back onto the bed, arms spread out, a smile on her face.

Haseo let himself be consumed by the tugging of his eyelids on him, and didn't even realize how much his and Alkaid's talk had benefited him.

Somehow he'd become more relaxed so to speak.

"Mister Haseo, Miss Alkaid, it's time to wake up." Haseo was woken up by someone shaking his shoulder, and he opened his eyes, gaze quickly finding Zelkova.

After saying a quick thank you, Haseo stood up and watched as Zelkova walked to Alkaid's side, "I had gotten worried when I didn't find her in her room." Zelkova commented over his shoulder, then proceeded to shake her awake.

The three could be found walking towards their new destination soon after, discussing some ideas and throwing them around.

One such idea was the possibility that their friends would be in attendance to that meeting.

"I can't say it's not posssible..." Haseo said, a thoughtful look on his face.

"You're right about that. But if they aren't there, then I guess we'll just have to keep searching." The former Demon Palace Empress mused.

"If we're going to do that," Zelkova added, "We should probably pin our hopes to finding them in this and the next level."

"Why only there?" Haseo looked.

"We could potentially find them somewhere when the third level is unlocked, however," Zelkova, who took the front as he was guiding them to the meeting place, looked back at the two, "It will gradually become more and more difficult to locate anyone the more floors that are unlocked. If that happens, it could take months to find anyone, let alone _everyone_ - they'd all probably be just too far spread out."

"That makes sense..." Haseo thought for a moment, then looked back up, "What if we were to stay at the gate that's open for everyone to pass when we beat the level? Surely when everyone gets word of what happened, they'll try to get to the next level. We'll try to find them then."

"That's a reasonable idea Haseo..." Zelkova suddenly stopped at what looked like the perfect place for an auditorium, and looked back at him, "But there's only one problem."

"What?"

"How will we find them if we've no idea what they look like?"

"..." Haseo hadn't thought about that. Sure, they knew what their avatars looked like, but even then, since that damn Game Master had given everyone those mirrors, the ability to know each and everyone would be near impossible.

And as though matters weren't bad enough, Haseo couldn't help imagining a scenario similar to the time he'd first met Atoli.

Her PC had been so similar to Shino's that it was almost impossible to tell the difference (except for when you heard their voices).

So even if their real life selves were dressed the same way, the chance of them having the same face was generally zero.

Zelkova smiled, then patted his shoulder, "It's okay Mr. Haseo. We'll find them sooner or later. I just wanted to let you realize that it wouldn't be very easy."

He realized then how he'd slouched forward, sighing heavily, and gave a simple nod, standing up straight.

"Good," Zelkova smiled, "Now let's go, the meeting's started."

"Okay, let's get started people!" A voice yelled, as though on cue.

The three immediately got their own seats.

"I thank you all for coming today. I'm Diabel, and I enjoy considering my "job" as Knight." The boy who had blue green hair pointed a thumb at himself with a smile.

"There's no job system in this game!"

"Is this meeting some kind of joke?"

"Take this more seriously man!"

Those were his immediate responses.

His smile faltered, and he did in fact become more serious after the last comment, "Recently, our party found the location of the Boss Room at the top of the tower."

There were murmurs of surprise and interest now.

"We need to beat the boss, get to the second level, and tell everyone in the Town of Beginnings that it's possible to beat this game!" He looked across the small crowd, "We _all _share this same duty! Don't you think so?"

There was another murmur, and then people started applauding.

Haseo felt himself begin to smile.

Diabel seemed like an enthusiastic leader.

"Alright, so let's begin our planning. First, all of you need to divide into parties of 6."

He blinked, then looked to Alkaid, seeing her with a similar look, then to Zelkova, who simply took that information calmly.

"..." Haseo sighed when he looked and saw a good majority of everyone had found a full party already, or were starting to make up a full party, "At least we'll be together."

Then he noticed the lone girl on the other side of the seats. She wore white leggings that came up her thigh and connected to her shoes, a sleeveless green dress covering her upper body with wings attached to the back of it. On each of her forearms were golden cuffs to hold up her green sleeves, her wand like staff resting on her lap, one giant cap with a green assortment of strings hanging off the side of it.

Haseo rose up from his seat suddenly, not beleiving it.

Then he started running towards the girl, not stopping until he was in front of her, to which she looked up, "Atoli, is that you?"

Her eyes widened, then she looked at his body, then back up at him, "Haseo?"

He nodded as he stood straight, and Atoli smiled brightly, face lighting up.

Then she gave him the biggest bear hug in his life, "Oh Haseo! I'm so glad you're alright!" She yelled, the inertia of her practically jumping on her making him fall over.

And her yells got an unnecessary amount of attention towards them.

"Hey, you lovebirds get a room! This isn't the place for that!" A guy yelled over in their direction.

Haseo was leaning up towards her, then let his head fall to the floor as Atoli hugged him tightly, her want to let him go not visibly existing.

"Hey... could you..." Haseo tried to say after a minute.

She looked up at him, black hair and blue eyes evident to him.

So that's what Atoli looked like in real life...

"Geez, I can't leave you alone for a second, can I?" Alkaid's voice hovered above him, and he looked up as a shadow blocked the sun, only to see Alkaid squatting down and resting her arms on her knees, "Looks like you found Atoli though."

"Alkaid? Is that you?" Atoli asked Alkaid, blue eyes light with curiosity.

"Yeah. But I'm kind of surprised Haseo. You just seem to bring happiness wherever you go."

"What do you mean?" Atoli asked, leaning up to meet her eyes.

"Well, especially after what happened last night at the hotel, I never expected you to warm up to people so quickly."

"Last night?"

"Yeah," Haseo felt himself paling at the sudden change in Alkaid's tone, "We slept in the same room after having a little talk with each other."

"A... "talk"?"

"Yeah. One thing just seemed to lead to another, and we ended up sleeping in the room. est rest I ever had since getting stuck here."

"What does she mean Haseo?" Atoli looked at the former PKKer.

"It was a really _intense _talk. I don't think I ever had one exactly like that with anyone else. But what Haseo did afterwards..." Alkaid feigned a blush by coverig her cheeks with her hands and looking down, as though in shame, "I think I've said too much..."

Haseo felt himself start to glare at her, the kind of glare that said, _'Stop doing that!'_

Atoli was oblivious, of course, "Haseo, is that true?"

Damn it - !

"I... welll... you see..." Haseo didn't know anyway to clear up the impeding fog of misunderstanding that was growing to come towards him, at least without making it any worse than it already was.

So... "Yeah... it's true..."

Atoli's cheeks instantly puffed up.

"Don't jump to conclusions..." Haseo spoke when he saw her look, "And... could you get off of me?"

Atoli realized then that she was still laying on top of him.

Quickly, she got off of him, yet still looked down on him in a weird way.

"Don't jump to conclusions Atoli." Haseo repeated himself, getting up.

"You said that you were sleeping in the same room, right?"

"Welll, yes but-"

"Then I don't need to jump to conclusions. I'm making a conclusion."

Haseo sighed, face palming, "It's the same thing if you don't listen to the whole story..."

Atoli crossed her arms and turned away.

"Ms. Atoli, please, don't misunderstand. Ms. Alkaid was simply trying to seek Mr. Haseo's comfort."

"What kind of "comfort"-" She froze as she realized who the voice belonged to, then turned, "Master Zel... kova?"

Zelkova smiled, and Atoli was obviously taken aback by the fact that the leader of her old guild resembled Tri-Edge (or at least who they _thought_ had been Tri-Edge).

"Thank you for the formalities Ms. Atoli, but I'm not your master anymore."

"Y-Yes." She nodded.

"Seems like you're quite well aquainted with people Ryou."

Haseo looked over at the sound of his name, eyes widening, "Kazuto?"

"Call me "Kirito" here, if you don't mind." Kirito smiled, hand on his hip.

"Then call me "Haseo", Kirito." Haseo smiled back.

"..." Alkaid and Atoli looked at each other, and Atoli was the first to ask, "You guys know each other?"

"Yeah. We were friends back in elementary school. But it's been quite a while since I last saw you, Ry -" Kirito caught himself, "Haseo."

"Yeah, it has been." Haseo took Kirito's hand, and the latter mentioned boy responded by pulling him back up onto his feet, "I'm willing to bet you wanted to form a party with me. Am I right?"

"Yeah, everyone else already got a party, so that girl over there was the only one I got to join up with." He turned, only to find her walking to him, hood covering her face, "Oh, hey there Asuna. It looks like I got us a full party now."

Haseo looked at him, "_You _got a full party? I thought it was _you _asking _me _to let you into the party."

"Does it really matter Haseo?"

"Depends." He shrugged with spread hands.

"You haven't changed at all, have you?" Kirito sighed.

"It doesn't really matter at all who got who into the party." Asuna cut through the conversing pair, sitting a moderate distance away from them, but still close enough to be considered "in their group".

A rather anti-social type of person, huh, Haseo thought as he noticed this, kind of reminds-

"Hey!" A voice broke into his thoughts.

Out of nowhere, a guy jumped down right next to Diabel, orange hair over his scalp and his jawline.

"My name's Kibaou," he pointed a thumb at himself, "And I've got something to say before we take on the boss."

Haseo could tell from his tone and body language that it wasn't good.

"Some of you here need to apologize for abandoning us beginners, especially the ones who've died already." He pointed accusedly into the crowd of people.

"Kibaou was it?" Diabel looked at the newcomer, "Are you talking about the beta testers?"

"Who else would I be talking about?" Kibaou yelled, "Instead of helping the beginners to keep living they just up and ditched eveyone else to die!" He clenched his teeth, "I know someone here was in the beta! So whoever you are, get down on your knees and beg for forgiveness. Not only that but give up all the items and cash they've got stored-"

Kibaou was abruptly interrupted by an object shooting through the air and hitting him, blowing him back due to the system not allowing PC's to take damage in safe zones.

"Shut the hell up you self-centered dumbass." Haseo said coldly, lowering his gun.

Everyone stared at him in surprise.

"What the hell was that for jackass?!" Kibaou yelled at him.

"What do you think?" Haseo started jumping down, until he was right next to him, "This place was a place we're all forced to be in. If you die, you die in real life, right?" Haseo looked down at him, "That means that there are only 2 ways to beat this game." He held up two fingers for emphasis, "1. Band together with everyone you can find and try to beat the game in a guerilla fashion, or 2.," He lowered his middle finger, forefinger still up, "Just go by "Survival of the fittest". If a person were to do what you say, you're saying that instead of just trying to fight through the game that they know better than anyone else, that they should not only bring along beginners that could turn out to be deadweight, but also _put them in harm's way_. Do you honestly think doing it the other way will benefit everyone? Don't be such a childish idiot."

Haseo turned away, starting to walk towards the steps, completely oblivious of the fact that Kibaou was drawing his sword...

"You bas - !" Kibaou tried to yell, only to be shot in the face again.

...until the man yelled out.

"Word to the wise, if you're going to attack, do it without yelling." Haseo said, walking away again.

He could feel people's eyes on him as he went, and as he was passing Kirito, seated on the end of one of the aisles, he heard him whisper to him, so only he could hear, "You didn't have to do that."

"You should know as well as I do that I did have to do that," Haseo whispered back.

And he walked up another aisle before sitting down, surprised to see a dark-skinned man speaking to Kibaou, holding up a small handbook and continuing to speak as silence filled the area.

Haseo only heard the end of what he was saying, "This book was compiled of information given by the beta testers."

Kibaou only scowled, as the man turned around, "We all had equal access to this information, and still many players died. I thought the reason for us all coming here was to learn from their mistakes and beat the boss."

Kibaou only scowled, then took a seat at the closest aisle, arms crossed.

"Alright, now to go back to the matter at hand." Diabel lifted his own handbook, "As Egil said, in here is information that could be used to defeat the boss of this level."

He opened it, turning a few pages, "According to it, the boss' name is Illfang the Kobold Lord, guarded by his assistants, called Ruin Kobold Sentinels, is armed with an axe and a buckler, has 4 health bars, and when his bar enters the red, he changes his weapon to a curved sword like weapon called a Talwar. In addition to that, he changes his attack pattern."

Once again, there were murmurs among the people, mainly of awe and surprise.

"This concludes the breifing. Items will automatically be distributed to you. EXP will go to the party that beats the boss, as well as the one who receives keeps it for themselves. Objections to that?"

There were none.

"We leave at 10:00 tomorrow morning. Make sure you're prepared for it then. I'll see you there!"

And the meeting was dispersed.

Haseo only looked, trying to see his party members, noticing then that one was gone already.

He noticed the absence of the hooded girl, looking behind himself only to find her walking away.

She truly was an anti-social...

Haseo shrugged the fact off, then followed behind everyone else as they attempted to follow.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it.**

* * *

Extra: Past of Zelkova

"Hey, Zelkova." Haseo said a few hours after that meeting itself was over.

They'd gone and sat around a fountain, the rest of their party walking around and talking to others.

It was well into the night then, and as they sat together, Haseo felt there wasn't a better time than that moment to ask of the boy's past.

And so, the 10 year old began, "Originally, I wasn't really a boy."

"Huh?"

"It's true. In actuality, I started out as a program started by "The World" R:1. But, after the defeat of Cubia, some particles of the AIDA phenomenon became real parts of the real world. I ended up becoming an actual child then. My adoptive father, Kaitou, was actually a player of "The World" R:1, and though his PC was lost in the fire that destroyed the data from the first version of "The World", Aura managed to save 3 PCs just before they were destroyed. One of those PCs, Kaitou's, is the one you see me in right now."

"Really?" Haseo looked at him, "That's gotta be a lot to take in."

"I'm used to it." Zelkova smiled, "And besides, my mother doesn't see me as simply a computer program, both adoptive d real ones."

"Your "real"...?" Haseo looked at him again.

"Yes, my real mother and father." Zelkova looked at Haseo, "In the real world, I live with my adoptive parents, Kaitou and Akira. But my biological parents are in fact the Twilight Knight Azure Flame Kite, and the goddess Aura herself."


	4. First Boss

Haseo trudged forward, eyes set as he walked with his party members.

As promised, the operation to start the fight with the Boss started at 10:00 A.M.

The sun was poking in the Eastern horizon, and the entire group was hiking through a forest, huddled near their teammates.

It was mainly silent throughout, though Haseo did give a few glances towards Zelkova as they went, the conversation they'd had the night before replaying through his mind.

So Zelkova was Aura's child...

He looked straight forward, thinking to himself; That would make a lot of sense. It'd explain why he was the Master of the Netslum... or maybe not, as that's not really a part of "The World"...

He sighed mentally.

It'd probably take a bit more questions to get a full grasp on Zelkova's past.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of his own thoughts.

He needed to focus, he told himself, after all, they were going on a mission here.

"We're here." Diabel stopped them at a gate minutes later, and turned to everyone, "Listen up everyone. I've only one thing to tell you: Let's win!" He said, enthusiastic smile returning as he pushed open the door.

What was revealed to them was a dark hallway.

But the only thing that struck Haseo as ominous - though somewhat cliche - was the pair of small bright red eyes that stared at them as they walked in.

As soon as the last one of them entered, the doors suddenly slammed shut behind them, and when Haseo looked behind himself, he saw there were no handles that could allow the gates to be pulled back open.

No way out...

Light was quickly bursting through the room next second, and Haseo looked back at the other end of the hallway, blinking as a very huge and very fat demon like monster landed in front of them after jumping, roaring out as white words appeared in an elyptical curve around his head.

_Illfang the Kohold Lord_

Three miniature armored up versions of the boss appeared then, looking similar to knights as they carried mace like weapons.

His assistants...

Alkaid smirked to his side, "Just these guys? I honestly expected more. We'll get through these guys in second."

She pulled her twin blades out, getting into her fighting stance, and as everyone else readied themselves, Haseo did the same, choosing to use his twin blades as well.

"Everyone, go!" Diabel commanded loudly, and the fight began instantly, the two opposing sides charging each other.

Haseo was close to the front lines, and he felt himself smirk as he noticed the enemy, and though he'd remembered the way Kuhn would sometimes say never to become cocky at anytime in a fight - especially before the "first bullet was shot" (or blade was swung, now that he thought about it) - he himself had to agree with Alkaid's thoughts.

Even though their levels were all cut in half by the mirrors, Haseo himself was still at level 75.

Beating these guys would be a cynch, even if he were all alone!

However...

They had been charging, sprinting towards each other with all the speed they could muster, yet as Haseo swung up his left blade as his opponent swung down its mace, it didn't take the boy very long to realize something was very wrong.

The mace turned out to be so powerful that when the weapons met, Haseo was pushed back with little to no effort, arm being swung back as he was unable to stop the inertia from making him move, and he had to clench his teeth in order to stop himself from grunting out in pain, feeling as though his arm was thrust back with enough force to dislocate his shoulder, but instead of that, Haseo only heard the sound of his health bar dropping.

Glancing up quickly, Haseo couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that a whole 1/8 of his health had dropped from that one hit.

"Huh? What the hell...?" Haseo looked up, then quickly dodged the deadly mace of his opponent, it swinging down with enough force to implant itself into the ground.

Seeing it had difficulty pulling it back out, Haseo quickly took advantage of it, starting to slash through the monster with quick hard strikes that fazed right through it.

Looking to his side, he noticed that Alkaid had joined the fray, and though both were slashing countless times...

"Damn it... Why the hell isn't this working?" Haseo yelled in surprise as he saw that though they're attacks were hitting, his enemy's health bar was barely dropping at all.

In fact, he was scared it was only his imagination that they were doing anything after a moment.

Kirito ran past his side, using his sword to slash through the boss' assistant, and though Haseo wanted to warn him, he felt himself begin to stare at its health bar, seeing that it dropped by a whole inch, getting thrown back.

The hell...?

"Number three!" A figure blurred past Haseo's side, and when he tried to see who it was, he could barely see them going, before stabbing their blade right into it.

Haseo's jaw dropped as a shadow went over his face, blue lines suddenly appearing on his head as he watched Asuna make it disappear into multiple shards of something similar to glass fragments.

"Good job." Kirito smiled at her to his side.

"Guys, look out!" Atoli yelled behind them, and Haseo and Kirito barely looked in time to see an assistant swinging right at Haseo.

His eyes widened, and he knew he couldn't get out of the way quickly enough, and just as he tried to bring his blades up together for a block, something suddenly got in the way, taking the hit for him.

When he saw who it was, his eyes went wide.

She brought up her blades at the last second, yet when the strike hit, it broke right through her weapons.

She could only widen her eyes as mace hit her dead in the stomach, making her fall right into Haseo, both of them toppling over.

Kirito immediately rushed forward, hitting it several times and making it go back, as Haseo held Alkaid's body.

"Alkaid, are you alright - !" He heard the sound of her health dropping then, then to his disbelief making a new sound he wasn't used to.

Looking down at her as her body glowed somewhat, Haseo felt his own fears be confirmed.

"No, Alkaid... No!" Haseo looked up at Atoli, seeing her trying to do healing with her wand.

However, on Atoli's end of things, when she tried to use healing magic, she couldn't believe it when a sign appeared in her face.

_Hello, __Atoli__  
Thank you for trying the new system of Sword Art Online!  
It appears that you want to use healing at this moment. However, if you wish for this to be done successfully on your party members, you must physically touch them with your wand.  
We thank you for your patronage to Sword Art Online!_

Atoli for one of the few times in her life cursed, then sprinted over to Alkaid, squatting down and touching her with the wand.

But it had no effect whatsoever on her health.

Rushing and panicking instantly, Atoli quickly tried to use healing again, yet nothing happened still.

"No... why... _why isn't it working?!_" Atoli said out loud.

Haseo's eyes widened, then looked down at Alkaid, seeing her grasping her hand tightly, "It's... it's alright Atoli... you can't heal me with magic once my HP hits zero..."

Atoli looked at her, eyes widened as well, then shook her head, tears forming in her eyes, stubbornly trying to heal her over and over again.

Alkaid smiled, "You guys really are good people..." She looked at Atoli, voice soft, "Take care of Haseo for me. It's not like I'll be able to do it myself anymore."

"No Alkaid! Don't talk like that!" Atoli yelled, trying again, still to no avail.

Alkaid looked at Haseo, still smiling, "You guys take care of each other. Promise me you'll get out of here, for my sake."

"...you idiot..." Haseo looked down at her, voice cracking, "Stop talking like that! Atoli will heal you!"

She kept smiling, reaching her gloved hand up, cupping his cheek, "I thought I told you, don't cry. Boys don't cry." She said to him, and Haseo realized then that tears were spilling out of his eyes then.

"Alkaid..."

"Haseo..." Alkaid leaned up, "I don't want to die without at least admitting it to you.. but... I love you Haseo, if you didn't realize it by now."

Haseo clenched his teeth, "You're not going to die Alkaid... you won't..."

Alkaid looked at him, smile dropping, "Come on, smile Haseo. At least do that before I..." She closed her eyes tightly suddenly, yelling out in pain out of nowhere.

"..." Atoli let her hand fall down to her side, the light over Alkaid covering her, "...I don't have any more magic..." Tears fell harshly down her cheeks, and she leaned over Alkaid, hugging her tightly, sobbing.

Haseo looked down at Alkaid, seeing her trying with all her strength to hug her back, but arms failing her halfway to doing so.

They fell slack, falling helplessly to the ground.

"...look Alkaid..." Haseo said suddenly, and Atoli looked, seeing him smiling for her, though his tears made it look incongrous, "I'm... smiling..."

Alkaid's eyes twitched, and it was obvious that she was trying to open her eyes.

But when her eyelids fully opened, Haseo felt his eyes widen when he saw that her eyes, once with brown irises and the rest of her eyes being white, were now brown, with onyx black replacing the white in it.

"...Thank you, Haseo..." She was still smiling, then closed her eyes again.

Both Atoli and Haseo looked around each other next second, seeing large dots appearing and resonating in the air.

"There's no way..." Atoli looked at the dots with fear now.

"AIDA? But how?" Haseo looked, eyes narrowing in anger then.

First Alkaid, and now AIDA?!

Unknown to either one of them, Alkaid's hands twitched, then curled into fists.

Alkaid lifted herself back up, sitting up, making her friends return their attention to her.

Her eyes were still black, yet she looked at her hands, eyes wide now.

The lights in the room suddenly disappeared, and Alkaid rose up, getting onto her feet.

"Alkaid?" Haseo looked at her, and she didn't respond, walking forward as though possessed, the black dots following her as she went.

It was then that Haseo realized that the dots weren't black. More like a very dark blue...

Alkaid lifted her hand right at Illfang, and five of the dots shot forward, stopping it right in its track as it moved to swing down at one player's PC.

When each one hit, it was pushed back, almost as though punched powerfully, and the dots sunk into Illfang's skin for a moment before pulling out of his body, returning to Alkaid's side, her body returning to her original appearance in "The World", red hair bright as she arched her back, bright blue dots hitting her body as well, screaming out like a banshee once, before the dots disappeared, her hair becoming brown again, falling down to her knees, and finally collapsing to her side, the lights turning back on.

A few players looked back at her, but were yelled at by Diabel to stay focused.

Haseo and Atoli ran to the girl, and checking her, they saw that her eyes were barely open, but normal again.

"Was that...?"

Haseo couldn't respond to Atoli's question, for he was too worried about the girl beneath him.

She looked fine now, or at least, as though she weren't about to die, as her PC was no longer glowing strangely, and also to add to the fact that she was still breathing.

Haseo sighed in relief, not caring whether it was AIDA that saved Alkaid or something else.

Then to his surprise, she began to glow again.

The same bright blue light from before...!

"You can't be serious!" Haseo said loudly.

"Haseo, let me." A hand grasped his shoulder, moving him out of the way, and he saw a man in his mid-twenties place a hand on Alkaid, "Propogation!"

Alkaid's body curled up as though being electrocuted, but the light faded, and her eyes opened back up, sitting up and looking around her.

"...Guys...?" Alkaid's health bar suddenly spiked up to full from what Haseo could see, and next moment, Atoli threw herself on Alkaid, hugging her much too tightly.

Haseo looked at the man, and he looked back, giving a smile, "Hey there Haseo."

The boy's eyes went wide in surprise and realization, for he knew who the man was now, "Kuhn?"

"The one and only." Kuhn pointed a thumb at himself.

It truly was the same guy, Haseo thought to himself.

Same warrior like clothing, same animal pelt as a belt, pretty much same build, same... everything, except for his face, of course.

Kuhn's real face held brown locks that reached loosely down the sides of his face, same kind colored brown eyes, and a rather tired looking expression.

They looked over as they heard the sounds of battle raging.

"Why aren't you fighting with them?" Haseo said, looking at him.

"I actually found this place earlier, and when I tried to fight, I almost got killed trying to beat these guys. I had to use my Magus in order to get out of here. Data Drain had no effect on the damn things."

"So it happened to you too?" Haseo said, rubbing his eyes as he tried wiping away his own tears.

"I'm not the only one? Seems like players of "The World" can't fight as well here as they did in the other game." Kuhn said, an underlying note of frustration in his tone.

"It really sucks being stuck on the sidelines and being deadweight. Now I know how it feels."

"You're only catching the bad side of it Haseo. Usually it can be a bit nice if you're in the right situation." Kuhn said lightheartedly, looking at the girls now.

Haseo looked then as well, and smiled when Alkaid was looking a bit awkward as Atoli held her in a steel tight grip.

Then Haseo noticed, "Hey, where's...?"

His unsaid question was answered when a red figure hopped onto Illfang's back, using his twin blades to strike his way up, until he reached the very top of his back, crossing his arms together before spreading them back out roughly, cutting through the boss' neck, though the blades fazed right through it.

He locked his ankles together, bending them so that his knees touched his chest, before slamming his feet into Illfang's head, catapulting him through the air.

"...Zelkova..." He smiled, noticing what Zelkova was trying to do.

He kept going for the monster's blind spot, trying to draw its attention away from his comrades, while they went in for the final strike.

What a good way to use his own speed...

Soon, the bar above Illfang's head went into the red, and as expected, it brought out a sword like object.

But...

That's not a Talwar! Zelkova thought, surprised at the realization, it's a No-Dachi!

Zelkova saw this, and as he did, he stopped his own strategy, remembering that his attack pattern would change, possibly regardless.

That was how it worked in most games after all.

He ran with his twin blades clutched tightly in his hands, lifted behind his waist, blue eyes studying the monster as he ran in a circle around him.

Come on Illfang, Zelkova mentally beckoned him, try attacking me...

It did in fact attack.

But not in a way the boy expected.

Illfang hopped up, and started bouncing off the walls like a tennis ball in a sealed off self training room for said sport.

Zelkova skidded to a stop, watching as it made its way back to the room, eyes following him.

Then he began to sprint in towards the others, seeing as they watched as well.

"Everyone!" He roared at the top of his lungs as he went, "Scramble and scatter, formation doesn't matter!"

"We ain't taking orders from you kid!" One man said as they finished the last of the Sentinels, only for them to turn back and see Diabel start to be attacked by Illfang.

Zelkova saw this, then clenched his teeth, sprinting as quickly as possible.

It seemed as though he'd have to use "that" after all...

"Get away Diabel!" Kirito yelled at their leader, "Get away as quickly as you can!"

Too late; Illfang launched himself at Diabel, and he was unable to stop it from hitting home, making him roar out in pain as he was thrown forward.

"Diabel!" Kibaou yelled, only for Illfang to turn to him, roaring out.

He scowled, then readied himself to fight, only for Zelkova to skid to a stop right in front of him, going between his allies and Illfang, as the monster swung its powerful blade.

Zelkova clenched his teeth, bringing his twin blades up in an "X" formation to the side he was swinging towards, which was his left.

Many of the people watching expected Zelkova to simply be tossed away like a rag doll; instead, he simply was pushed forcefully to his right while standing his ground, scowling up at him.

"Come on Illfang," his scowl became a small but strained smile, "Is that honestly the best that you can do?"

He could hear it growling at him, and Zelkova pushed the blade away with all his strength, though only managing to get the blade off of him, then jumped onto Illfang's blade, balancing with incredible accuracy, running up his blade with a smile on his face.

Illfang hefted his blade up into the air, and Zelkova was thrust into up into the cieling from how high he'd thrown him.

But Zelkova had expected that.

He moved, so that his feet pressed into the cieling, and blue flames covered his body next second.

Using the cieling as a catapult, Zelkova launched himself at Illfang, slashing through him once in a flash of blue light.

Zelkova smiled as Illfang roared, and with that once strike, his health droped down to almost zero.

He turned, blue flames faltering before dying out, and saw that it was about to attack him again.

But before it hit, someone else blocked the blow for him.

He looked, then smiled, "Thanks, Mr. Kirito."

"Go!" Was his sole response.

Zelkova nodded before running away, just as Asuna passed him.

"Switch!" Kirito yelled to her.

She sprinted at Illfang then, only to be taken aback when Illfang recovered from Kirito blocking his blow, "Asuna - !" Kirito tried to yell a warning.

Just in time; she dodged by a hair, her entire cloak getting ripped off.

Brown hair and eyes were framed by the face of the girl that was revealed then, and not hesitating for a second, her blade glowed as she was preparing to strike.

Illfang got blown back, for it had put too much pressure into its swing.

It stumbled back a few steps, then regained its footing, running at them again.

Kirito and Illfang's blades clashed as they charged each other, and now with an opening, Asuna charged herself, hitting him again.

Only this time, the attack didn't have the same impact, and it recovered much more quickly, swinging his No-Dachi again.

Kirito acted as support for her again, blocking the first blow by putting his sword upside down and using his fore-arm to hold himself, then lifting the blade over his head and putting his palm over the bottom of it to hold himself against the second heavy blow, then pushing it away.

Illfang swung again, but he couldn't prepare himself this time, and he was blown back, right into Asuna, dropping his sword onto the ground with a clatter.

"Damn it..." Kirito struggled to get back up, more than half of his HP being lost in that direct hit to his body.

They both looked up as the looming shadow of the boss came over them.

It lifted its sword and swung down, only to be intercepted by another force.

Kirito looked up as Egil, the man who spoke to Kibaou about the handbooks, blocked with his hammer.

Illfang was blown back by the collision, but stood its ground as it skidded away.

Zelkova sped past him, blue flames lighting up his blades, "Everyone, come on!" He yelled to the people behind him, though his eyes were set on Illfang as he bounded forward, the others following behind him.

Egil looked back at the duo, "We'll hold him off as long as we can, you two recover ASAP!" He turned back to the enemy, charging forward with the others.

Illfang blocked most of the blocks surprisingly well as the players all fought against him, even as Zelkova used his blue flames to amplify his attacks.

It spun its blade, carrying everyone with it, and everyone was thrown into the air.

It hopped high in the air then, and its blade glowed as it prepared to attack, obviously charging the power behind the attack up.

Zelkova looked at this, then scowled.

He said a mental apology to his adoptive father, then concentrated, blue flames engulfing his body, six swords appearing behind his back like wings, to which Zelkova moved his limbs back before pushing them forward.

The blades all aimed right at Illfang, and they spun in a perfect circle, at a blurring speed, the flames becoming like a circle of blue light, until Zelkova breathed in, and all the flames suddenly disappeared, the swords abruptly stopping their rotation, until he roared out his own breath, and out the center of the imaginary circle the swords made, a giant ball of azure blue flame burst out, hitting its target in the bullseye, making Illfang get blasted back a few meters away.

Its health was barely an inch now.

"Mister Kirito, Miss Asuna, finish it!" Zelkova yelled, his flames puckering out into nothing as he free fell, limbs spread out.

The two sprinted forward, "One last hit, we'll do it together!" Kirito said, and Asuna responded her agreement.

They ran as fast as their feet could carry them, shoes clapping loudly against the floor, watching as Illfang regained his composure, roaring out as they approached, swinging a sideways slash to try and get them both in one strike.

Kirito blocked it, throwing the blade away and shrugging off the inertia, Asuna attacking again, Illfang moving as though punched in his fat stomach, Kirito following up with a slash right through his body, to which it bellowed out in agony.

Kirito passed it, then spun sharply, looking right at its blind spot, and stabbed right through his back, and with a roar, pulled his blade through its flesh, before slashing through, watching as Illfang dropped his sword, falling over on its body, before its HP reached zero, disappearing in a cluster of colorful glass shards.

There was a moment of silence then, before one man finally broke it, "We.. WE WON!"

The whole crowd started cheering, the word "Congratulations" appearing above everyone's heads.

Zelkova sighed, pushing his blades into their sheaths, looking back towards Haseo and the others.

He only smiled with crossed arms at their incredulous looks.

Just when he was about to walk to them however, the whole area became staticky, before he was teleported to an area he hadn't seen before.

He looked around, surprised at this development, only to find that he was surrounded by people he didn't know.

Seeing this, he looked around, trying to find his friends as quickly as possible.

Haseo could be found helping Alkaid and AToli back up onto their feet, then taking in the surroundings.

It looked just like the place they'd been taken to the first day of the game, only now, it was nighttime.

Their vision became staticky once again, and to Haseo's own surprise, he saw everyone was reverted back to their original PC forms.

Looking around then, he realized that everyone that had been taken here were players of "The World".

All of them...

"Hello, players of "The World"." A powerful voice filled the arena.

Everyone looked, seeing the Game Master Kayaba himself floating there.

"I am pleased to announce to you that the first level of Sword Art Online has now been completed. However, I wish to show you some footage of the person some may have thought to be one of your strongest fighters, Sage Palace Emperor, "The Terror of Death", Haseo, against, not the boss himself, but his minions."

He lifted a hand, and Haseo could only stare as he watched footage that all in one phrase was just showing him getting his ass kicked.

When it finished with a shot of Haseo on the ground, it cut itself off just before a Sentinel thrust down his weapon on him, changing to static.

Haseo felt himself gain a tone of embarassment then, for the way it cut off made it seem as though he'd been killed.

"Do not think that you're Emperor is dead yet however, for he is standing right over there." Kayaba not only looked in Haseo's direction, he pointed him out.

And as Haseo was in a small ring of people, it was not hard to find where he was given those factors.

And he wasn't exxagerating when he said every last head turned in his direction.

He'd known what this feeling was like when fighting in the arena and being crowned Emperor of the three palaces, but to this entire crowd, it felt a little less... comfortable.

Maybe because he wasn't the sole center of attention the entire time, if ever at all...

"Now, other than that, there are announcements that I wish to tell you of. First and foremost, is the reason why you're levels are so high yet recently, your attacks have proved utterly fruitless. If you look at your level, you will see that there is a decimal point that did not use to be there right in front of your level number." Haseo did look at his level via the menu, and he blinked when he saw that there was in fact a decimal point that was barely visible right in front of his level.

.**75**

He stared at it for a moment, then looked at Kayaba, seeing him looking at everyone again.

"This is a system that I made so that you could enjoy the benefits of using powers of "The World" to your advantage until a certain number of people tried to defeat the boss of the first floor. Now many of those powers, including your levels, will be deprived from you. I will give you some leverage however, as you surely have worked hard to level yourselves up in the past week. Your _real _levels should be coming up now."

Haseo looked at his, seeing it rising rapidly, stopping quickly at his real level.

**16.0**

The decimal point was still hard to see, but he didn't care for that anymore.

"To all magic users, your wands will be rather useless now for to use magic. The only magic you can use is healing magic, and even when you use that, you will find it may be in your benefit _not_ to use your healing abilities. For those of you who weapons that are variations of guns, these shall be replaced by either swords or knives, according to the size and power of the gun. Everyone else will have it the same. I also present to you another way of your "Awakening" abilities. Now, instead of simple uses of them being to create more of an advantage against opponents in battle that requires you to have party members, it is now an individual system. Additionally, your "Demon Awakening" has now been scrapped, and now, your list of Awakenings will go in this order: "Beast Awakening", "Divine Awakening", "Miraculous Awakening", "Godly Awakening", "Premoridial Awakening", "Earthly Awakening", and "Hubris Awakening"." Kayaba listed the 7 names off, and Haseo couldn't help wondering what the other 5 Awakenings could do, "One of these Awakenings, "Beast Awakening", is already unlocked for you. For those who have surpassed level 10 have unlocked the "Divine Awakening". Each respective Awakening will be unlocked to you the higher the level you have. These are currently all the announcements. I now await to watch you, as I am curious to see who will make it out alive of Sword Art Online, if any of you. Currently, I have nullified the effects of the mirrors, so henceforth, I will give you twenty minutes to find your friends and stay with them before being left on the second floor. If you wish to stay with your friends, be very sure to keep them within your party. Goodbye."

Kayaba's body faded away, and behind where he once was, was a timer.

_19:56 _it already tolled down.

Haseo looked among his own friends then, "We'll try to get as many of our friends as possible, but also make sure that they themselves don't already have a party that's extremely large. If we travel in too high of numbers, things might get difficult over time."

At everyone's nod, Haseo walked into the now bustling group of people.

Only to stop when he saw a very pale version of Zelkova.

When he reached him, he turned him around, seeing that he was so pale that he looked blue, in quite a literal sense, and had razor sharp teeth.

"Zelkova? Is that you?" Haseo was hesitant to ask.

He gave no response for a moment, then looked at him, trying to speak yet only mustering a long, "Aaaaaaaaah..."

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Please review. :)


	5. Reality Check On How Others View You

Haseo had taken little time to know whether or not the guy was Zelkova or not.

He looked surprised at his own voice, yet when he realized that all he could do was moan like a zombie, he changed his method of communication.

Which was morse code.

He just pulled his knives out, clanging them together to say his message.

To save time, Haseo just asked him yes or no questions, and they spent a lot of their time looking around for some of their friends in this way.

They managed to find Gaspard ("Haseo! I'm so glad to see yo - ?" Gaspard stared when he noticed Zelkova, "Uh... who's this guy?"), Silabus ("Thank goodness! I thought I'd lost Gaspard after a while!"), Sakubo ("Big brother Haseo!" Bo yelled in relief, embracing his brother figure tightly), Endrance ("Thank goodness you are alright... I'm glad to have found you Haseo." Endrance held Haseo's cheek in his palm) and surprisingly, Pi ("It's a good thing you're still alive Haseo." Pi smiled, pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose).

Having met up with these people, Haseo looked up as he saw the time remaining he had.

_1:54_

"We need to hurry. Zelkova, is there anyone else you can think of to look for?" Haseo turned to the boy, and he started to spell out one name, in a very quick fashion.

Haseo listened to the sounds carefully, listening closely (Thank God he'd learned morse code earlier in his English classes at school).

_K..._

_A..._

_E..._

_D..._

_E..._

"...Kaede?" Zelkova nodded quickly, already trying to search the crowd.

"Ok, let's hurry!" Haseo did as 360 as turned, looking for the person in question.

_1:32_

They ran together as they pushed through people in the crowd, frantically searching for the woman in question.

They did a whole thorough search of everyone everywhere, yet could not find her very easily.

_0:50_

Haseo cursed under his breath, then looked around again.

It was then he realized he didn't know where Zelkova was.

He turned, looking to his left and right, yet did not find the Twin Blade very easily.

He decided to not worry too much about it then, as Zelkova was still in his party regardless.

The sky suddenly turned red moments later, and Haseo looked at the timer again.

_**0:30**_

His eyes widened, then narrowed into a scowl.

Damn it all!

He skidded to a stop when he saw a flash of light to his right however.

Looking now, Haseo realized it was really a blue flame.

Zelkova!

He knew he wouldn't brandish his power recklessly (even if he were on the sidelines, Haseo could tell how worn out using those flames made him), so he knew that there shouldn't have been an everyday reason for him doing that.

Though he pondered the reason, he still sprinted towards the flame, red eyes widening when he saw who was standing next to Zelkova.

A black haired woman wearing a red kimono like dress.

Seeing her, he pushed himself past the speed he himself knew he could go for, already beginning to open his menu.

_**0:18**_

He stopped in front of her, breathing heavily, then spoke hurriedly, "Kaede, join my party!"

"Haseo?" Kaede jumped in surprise.

_**0:10**_

"Hurry!" He yelled.

She nodded, then started the process, and Haseo saw the menu give a notification over the next heart stopping moment, reading the notfication quickly.

_**0:03**_

Kaede is sending you a request to join your party.  
Do you accept?

Haseo hit the accept button so hard that it was as though he were trying to use his finger as a knife, trying to stab through the menu.

Their surroundings became staticky just as Haseo pressed the button, and next moment, he was caught up in a flash of light, it dying down and revealing him to be in the middle of a village.

He looked, and saw Zelkova and another woman he didn't recognize wearing Kaede's clothes.

He turned around, seeing that a number of people were with him.

He sighed in relief, seeing that all his friends were together then.

Thank goodness...

Haseo found himself at another hotel, seeing that he was sharing a room because space was so tight.

They'd all had gotten together shortly after the whole thing had happened.

When speaking of the matter of the game they'd been trapped in, many of the people present had only proposed that each take turns trying to do quests to gain money to support the whole group, which was surprisingly only 11 in number.

Another group would focus on getting stronger for the boss battle, and the last group was to simply relax for the time being.

Haseo had tried rejecting the last part, yet that was overturned when Atoli reasoned going back and forth with those two things would prove to be very stressful.

He sighed as he sat in his bed, laying down.

Because of the fact that there was an uneven amount of people, some of the members of their group proposed that they vote for a leader and vice-leader of the pack.

The vice-leader turned out to be Alkaid against all odds, as they had pulled straws out to see who'd gain that position.

But with the exception of Haseo's vote, the choice for leader was unanimous, as everyone was fine with voting openly.

And everyone had chosen him.

Haseo himself was at odds by weighing his choice between the two ideal leaders in his book: Kuhn and Zelkova.

He'd chosen both of them because of what he knew of both of their pasts.

Kuhn, though sometimes being immature for his age, had a very strong moral code when it came to most, if not all, things.

Not only that, but he had a good deal of experience when it came to leading, as he was both former vice Guild Master of Kestral and former Guild Master of Canard.

Even if he eventually left those guilds for his own reasons, Haseo felt that his own morality might keep him from doing the same this time around, especially since people's lives were in the balance.

Zelkova on the other hand, while being so young, still had the ability to be the heart of all of the Moon Tree guild and sustain that position for a long time, and Haseo knew he'd have to have a good deal of leadership skills, and, above all, patience, in order to be in control of such a huge amount of people.

Not to mention the fact he was one of the most kind of Haseo's friends.

He'd definitely make decisions that was always best for the whole group, whether they liked it or not.

But choosing between those two turned out to be rather difficult.

When the time to vote came, everyone was supposed to point at the person they chose at the count of three, so no bias could be introduced at all.

Haseo was just about to point at Kuhn when the person counting said "3", yet his arm faltered when everyone pointed at him.

He looked between everyone, and they did the same.

Then everyone smiled, visibly relaxed to know that they had all chosen the same person.

That was to say everyone but Haseo looked relaxed.

In actuality, the boy looked completely baffled.

"Seems like we have our leader." Pi had said, black hair reaching below her neck, her lenses framing her dark green eyes.

"Wherever you may go, I shall gladly follow you, Haseo." Endrance smiled, and Haseo was surprised to see there was little change in his real life appearance as to that in "The World".

"I'm sure you'll be a great leader Haseo!" Bo said enthusiastically, brown hair short.

Haseo looked, shock still evident on his face as he saw that everyone still supported him as leader.

Hours later from that moment, now, Haseo sighed as he lay back, on the bed closest to the window with a curtain that blocked the moonlight from outside, the lamp between the two beds giving a yellow light that lit up the whole room.

Silabus walked out into the main room with his clothes back on from taking a shower, only toweling his brown hair off as the man walked fully clothed back into the room, "Hey Haseo. Are you okay?" He stopped, looking at the younger male.

It actually turned out Silabus was a college age student.

"I'm fine Silabus, don't worry."

"Alright." Silabus responded, starting to walk out of the room, "I'll be going downstairs to get something to eat with Gaspard. Do you want to come with me?"

"No, I think I'll take a shower now." Haseo said with closed eyes, and he listened as the door shut, closing softly.

Haseo opened his eyes a moment later, sighing as he pulled himself out of bed.

Kayaba just couldn't help but add a cleansing system to the game, could he?

It was easy to tell that Haseo stunk after a day of being trapped in the game.

It seemed as though everyone's PCs had to shower daily or they'd just stink to high heaven.

There were shower shacks that everyone could use for free in the middle of towns, and Kayaba had the decency to add stalls into the showers, as well as curtains, also making them very massive.

The game only allowed about 7 minutes of hot water for each player per day though, at least in the shacks.

Here in the hotel however, Haseo could stay there all night and still have hot water pouring down on his head.

And he proceded to take advantage of that fact as he walked into the shower room, being rather large enough to fit for two people, the floor a bluish green tint of tiles.

Haseo never enjoyed taking off his clothes before every shower.

Having to go into his menu and take off all that armor was a chore in itself, not mentioning how unnatural it felt.

He felt like he was a reluctant stripper trying to do a severely weird version of a strip tease, only standing still the whole time, clothes just disappearing as he stood up straight like any regular person.

He was a tall, lanky person, though many times his mother and father would get on him about how his hair seemed to cover part of his face, to the point that he shouldn't have been able to see, though he always could.

Thinking of them, Haseo narrowed his eyes, remorse flickering in his gaze.

He wondered what those bastards were doing now...

He shrugged his thoughts off, turning on the shower and closing his eyes as the hot water hit him full force.

It stung badly at first, yet Haseo stood there and took it, sighing softly as he breathed, relishing within the feeling of the liquid bullets hitting him repeatedly.

Staying like that for a long time, Haseo last track of how long he was in there very quickly.

He wouldn't know or care whether he'd been inside that room for 10 minutes or a whole hour, and over time, the steam of the water made a fog seem to appear in the whole room.

Soon, he heard the sound of the door opening, and Haseo knew it'd be Silabus.

He was about to try and greet his friend, but found that he had forgotten his towel in the room.

Under different circumstances, this would be no problem.

Yet a part of the system was that one couldn't put on their gear unless completely dry, or be put at risk to have even the strongest of armor start to rust or have regular clothes start to become dirty.

It was quite a strict system.

Haseo wondered what to do then, and knowing he was fully naked, knew he couldn't just walk out with Silabus out there.

Some... "things" were better kept secret.

However, Haseo knew how nice Silabus could be, and he decided to just ask him to hand him his towel.

That would be fine, wouldn't it?

So Haseo stopped the shower water, and walked to the exit, poking his head out, "Hey Silabus, could you..."

Haseo trailed off when he saw who it was that was outside.

It had never been his friend at all.

It had been a girl.

Atoli.

The two stared at each other for several moments, then Atoli's face went a bright red.

"S-Sorry Haseo! I-I'll leave!" Atoli started running out.

"Atoli wait!" Haseo said just when she was at the door.

Slowly, she turned her head back to Haseo, seeing him looking at her in an embarassed type of way.

"Y-Yes Haseo?"

"Could... could you get a towel for me? I can't see mine anywhere..." Haseo looked around again, before flushing softly, the redness in his face unmistakable.

There was an awkward moment of silence following that.

"Of course Haseo, I'll..." Atoli opened the door slightly and squeezed through, "I'll get you a towel, just... hang tight." She said as she poked her head through the door, before leaving, shutting the door behind herself.

Haseo sighed, then returned to the shower room.

He really didn't see anything else he could do at that moment except showering some more.

So...

He turned the shower on again, the hot bullets hitting him again, the same wave sending a chill up his spine.

He simply went through the same process again, only now a little more aware of his time.

He felt he was in there for only minutes this time before he heard the door opening in the main room.

He sighed in relief, "Leave the towel on the bed!" He said, loud enough for Atoli to hear.

He got no response, only heard a door opening again and closing soon after.

Haseo smiled, knowing for a fact that he was home free as he turned around...

...only to jump when he came face to face with a fully naked Alkaid.

"A-Alkaid, what the hell are you - ?"

"I heard you in the shower, so I thought that I'd join you." Alkaid said, smiling at Haseo.

"Get the hell out!" Haseo yelled.

Alkaid only responded by walking up to him, hugging him tightly, snuggling her head against his chest.

Haseo froze as she did this, feeling her breasts pressing into his front, before going red in the face.

"Look, Alkaid, I don't know why you're doing this but..." Haseo grasped her shoulders, pushing her away, turning himself around.

Alkaid smiled, then walked behind Haseo, hands snaking around his body before wrapping around him, hugging his body to hers again, closing her eyes, "Hey Haseo, can I ask you something?"

"Will it get you out of here faster?"

"Maybe." She gave a mischievous smile he could not see.

He didn't respond for a moment, "Fine. Ask."

"Back then, when I was supposed to die..." The smile died, and Alkaid opened her eyes, staring at his back, "...you know what I said to you...?"

"...depends on what words you mean." Haseo responded bluntly, looking at the wall silently.

Alkaid sighed softly behind him, and unbeknownst to him, her face suddenly went red as she looked down at the ground.

"I mean..." Alkaid moved quickly, going so she was now in front of Haseo, the short girl looking up at his face, "... you know how I said how I felt about you..."

Haseo himself felt his cheeks flushing, especially due to the situation he was in.

But regardless, he answered honestly, "...Yeah. You said that you loved me."

Alkaid saw his reaction, and kept staring, "Haseo... how do you feel about me?"

Haseo looked down at her, then closed his eyes, sighing mentally, "If I had to be honest... I don't really understand my feelings for you..."

Alkaid looked up at him, "What?"

"I'm sorry..." Haseo said, eyes opening back up slightly, revealing a somewhat pained look, "For most of my life, I never had any friends... my parents were barely there at all, barely even see me as their child... I was just a kid with nothing but wealth around him. So right now... you could say I'm a loner in real life... there's really nothing for me that's alive. So, without any real companions in my life, I lacked the ability to properly understand my own emotions, let alone show them well."

Alkaid saw the look in his eyes, and she felt sorry for Haseo when he saw the genuine pain in his eyes.

She hugged him tightly, resting her head on his chest, "That's alright Haseo. I'll teach you what emotions of yours are which." She said, tough voice being replaced by her genuine voice, soft and somewhat shy sounding.

After a moment, Haseo found himself hugging back, and Alkaid looked up, smiling softly, cheeks still red.

"Ha-Ha..." Haseo froze at the voice, turning slowly to find Atoli looking inside at them.

"Atoli..." Haseo immediately knew that no matter what he said that the things presented to Atoli would leave nothing to the imagination.

A teenage guy and girl naked and all alone in a shower hugging each other...

Yeah, he doubted that he'd walk away from this room with a very stable relationship with the black haired girl...

To his surprise, Atoli ran to him, dropping the towel she held in her hands and leaving it to fall uselessly to the ground, throwing her arms around him and hugging tightly.

Being hugged from both sides, Haseo felt strange in that moment.

They stayed like that for a long time, and soon, the two pulled themselves away from Haseo, and as they did this, Alkaid smiled, "Thanks for opening up to me Haseo."

He gave no response, looking down.

"I promise, you won't be alone anymore." Alkaid spoke, lifting a fist up, pressing her knuckles lightly against his chest, "You'll always have me after all..."

Atoli hugged Haseo again, wrenching him away with a strength Haseo himself didn't know she had, then glared at Alkaid, "Hey, I'll be there for him too you know!"

Alkaid smirked, and her tough side showed up again, "How can you be so sure? I'm the one who loves the guy. I don't remember you saying it. And not only that, me and Haseo bathed together too..." She feigned a blush, looking away dramatically.

Atoli's cheeks puffed up as they reddened, then closed her eyes tightly, "If-If that's the case - !"

To Haseo's surprise, Atoli opened her menu up, then selected an option that he saw was at the very bottom of her armor options list, titled "_Remove all armor_".

Before Atoli could press the option however, Haseo grabbed her wrist at the last second, forcing away all thoughts of how he'd use that next time he wanted to take a shower.

"Don't do it. I'm begging you right now. Don't. Do it." For anyone who knew Haseo, him saying the words "I'm begging you" was either something that'd make them wonder if the Day of Reckoning was upon them or if they were hearing things.

"But Haseo..." She turned to him, "She won't quit teasing me!" She whined, anime tears falling down her face, pointing at Alkaid for emphasis.

"You idiot... You think getting naked will change that?!" He yelled at her.

She looked down in shame, only to flush, not a bright red, but a very, _very_, dark claret.

She screamed out, covering her eyes, and Haseo realized what she'd seen after he realized what had happened.

He turned and grabbed the towel off the ground, wrapping it around himself tightly, "Both of you... just get out. For my sake and yours, get out." He lifted a hand to his forehead, applying pressure to it as he began to walk away.

"I can't leave Haseo! You know as well as I do how being wet can damage a person's armor!" Alkaid yelled, hands not giving an ounce of effort to cover herself.

"Tough shit!" Haseo yelled at her, "Besides that, why the hell did you get in here in the first place if you didn't have a towel?!"

Alkaid had already smirked in a way that made Haseo wish he hadn't said anything.

She walked forward, grasping the towel wrapped around his waist and pulling it away before Haseo could do anything to stop her, and next second, Alkaid had pressed herself against his body again, wrapping the towel tightly around them both.

"Becuase I thought we'd be sharing a towel by the time we walked out of here." She said bluntly, smiling without shame.

Two hands grasped her shoulders, pulling Alkaid away from Haseo, dragging her out of the room by force.

As she struggled against the warrior, Atoli looked back at Haseo with a somewhat forced smile, "You dry yourself up Haseo... I'll... get... her... _out!_" She closed her eyes at the last word, pulling with all her might to get Alkaid out, and slammed the door on her way out.

Haseo stared at the door for a very long time, then just took up his towel and dried himself off, turning off the shower at long last.

Once he got his armor back on, Haseo walked out, seeing the two fighting from what he could see.

Quite physically.

He watched for a moment, then walked forward, jabbing his fingers harshly into both of their ribs.

They both keeled over and away from Haseo, looking at him in surprise.

"What the heck was that for Haseo?" Atoli yelled, still holding the place where he'd hit her.

Haseo only responded by throwing his towel in Alkaid's face, taking hold of Atoli's dress and dragging her out, her following him next moment.

Haseo opened the door for Atoli, and she was taken aback by the chivalrous action.

But she took it nonetheless, walking past him.

Haseo looked behind himself, "Dry yourself and get dressed Alkaid." He ordered simply before closing the door with a snap.

"You're really changing Haseo." Atoli smiled.

Haseo looked at her, "What? What makes you say that?"

"You held the door for someone. That was really polite of you!"

"What? Oh, I wasn't doing thar to be polite. I was doing it so I could tell Alkaid what to do."

Atoli blinked, then felt herself deflating.

"Haseo!" Someone yelled from down the hallway.

They turned to see Kuhn running to them, skidding to a stop in front of them.

"What is it Kuhn?" Haseo looked at his fellow Epitaph User.

"AIDA..." Kuhn was out of breath from running as much as he did.

"What?"

"AIDA!" Kuhn yelled, "AIDA particles have surrounded the entire village!"

* * *

A/N: As this chapter may have been filler somewhat, I ask you to still review.

It took me a few hours to write this out (though I admit the time could've been cut short had the fact that I was watching Toonami didn't exist at the moment).

Also, this detail may be irrelevant, but I often listen to music while I write. While most of the songs that I listen to are mainly rock/metal, I decided to write with all the songs on shuffle.

Somehow, I'm not entirely sure why, but right before the whole scene in the shower room, the song "Unthinkable" by Alicia Keys came up.

I don't even remember getting the song in the first place, as I typically will try to avoid listening to RnB and Hip-Hop (much to many of my peers distaste, as I am as ",black as they are", and how I should ",be in love in with that type of music instead of that depressing crap that you listen to").

So anyways, after looking back on the lyrics, it is very difficult not to find that it had some impact on that entire situation. I could be wrong. Who knows.

And now, I am currently watching SAO as I speak. Oh well. Still hope you enjoyed this chapter. I sure enjoyed writing it, even if I had to stay up till past 2:00 in the freaking morning to do it.

It could be worse though.

I wrote all of the last chapter in one day, and it took me until 3:00 A.M. to get some sleep.

Guess I can't complain though. I'm putting this pressure on myself after all.


	6. Avatars and Eu

Haseo didn't need for Kuhn to explain further into things, for the very mention of his enemy was enough to make him sprint down the hall, going down a few steps as he was on the second floor of the hotel.

In the lobby, Haseo ran past people so quickly that wind hit them, his fellow Epitath Users following in tow.

He burst out the door, panting somewhat as he looked up at the sky.

What he saw made his eyes widen.

Black dots were appearing all over the sky, and the red light that emitted from the Epitaths of Endrance, Sakubo, and Pi lit up the sky as they fought against the impossibly huge onslaught.

"It's just as I said, Haseo." Kuhn's voice came up behind him.

Haseo clenched his teeth, "How the hell did AIDA get here?"

"Right now, that doesn't really matter." Kuhn responded, "We have to act now."

He could see Haseo already glowing a red light, it making patterns on his body that were like symbols, brown eyes becoming red as he did this, "Come on... come on... I'm right here... _come on..._"

_**Skeith...**_

Haseo roared that name out, his body emitting a light so bright that it put the strongest flash bomb to shame, making Kuhn and Atoli have to cover their eyes, the light growing even brighter before dying down.

When the two looked at Haseo, they were taken aback by how he looked like then.

Before, when Haseo was in his Xth form, his body was given the appearance many were used to.

But now, his entire appearance had changed completely.

Haseo now wore a white hooded cloak, which in itself still gave off light, with a symbol in the middle of his back.

As Haseo turned to them, holding his own look of surprise as he looked at his hands, now covered by black fingerless gloves, they could see his old in-game appearance in "The World" had returned completely, white hair and all.

The only difference now were his eyes.

His eyes, typically, if not always, red in-game, were now a bright gold.

His white sleeveless t-shirt was now replaced with a black tank top, the symbol on his back reappearing on his torso, finally complete with what seemed to be black jeans, a third symbol running along his left leg, and surprisingly no shoes.

He looked back up at the battle taking place in the sky, and he narrowed his eyes.

At that second, a large being appeared behind him, and Kuhn saw that it was in fact Skeith, wearing only a robe without a hood similar to Haseo's, and holding a weapon in each hand.

In his left, he carried his signature scythe.

In his right, he held what could only be described as a red wand, only it was held backwards as to what was usually depicted in most wand users, a line forming a curve and cutting through the near top and going down about a quarter of the first end.

Haseo looked down at his right hand, and lifted it up as the same wand appeared in it, only much smaller.

Then he looked up, scowling at the AIDA particles, then kicked off into the air, flying towards another part of the AIDA particles left unattended, light brimming from him as he went.

Kuhn and Atoli watched for a moment, eyes taken aback, then regained their focus.

"We need to go." Kuhn reminded the girl next to him, and he himself concentrated, symbols appearing over his body as well, "Awaken, **Magus**." Kuhn's avatar appeared before him, and he too flew off towards another part of the battle.

"Innis..." Atoli brought her hands together, fingers intertwined as though in prayer, eyes closed and head bowed, "...I beg you. Give me your power!"

The avatar appeared before her as well, and she went as well, flying towards her own battle.

And so, the second battle between Epitath Users and AIDA ensued.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zelkova could be found with Kaede, ushering people into buildings, getting them to safety, to which they obliged to to his own surprise.

He had originally thought that only a select few could actually see the Avatars, with said few being the users of them fighting and the child himself.

Yet, when he asked Kaede if she knew what was going on, she looked at the black dots and the avatars, _right at them_, and said, "We need to focus on getting these people to safety. That's our first priority. I'm not sure if those abilities of theirs can stop AIDA, but we still need to support everyone else right now."

When Zelkova was unsure of whether she could see them or just knew somehow of the Avatars (he'd told her all about AIDA, info. he'd gained by hacking into the system's database of "The World" to make sure that there weren't any problems with "The World" that Moon Tree could help with, something he was only somewhat ashamed of (though then again, he wondered if he only was just saying that to himself sometimes), and yet he didn't comment on the Avatars, which left his second option to believe in visibly invalid).

So, when Kaede and himself had chosen to put some people into the buildings, her on one side of the street and himself on the other, Zelkova asked the first guy he saw, "Mister, do you see those people up there?" He pointed.

He got a stare as a response, "Of course I can! How the hell not?"

Zelkova only tried to coax him into the closest building, which proved to be rather difficult.

In fact, as time passed, it became more and more difficult to get people into the buildings and into safety, forcing Zelkova to have to kick some people hard in the stomach, launching them into the wall they were closest to and pushing the now dazed person into the building, saying a curt and quick apology, before continuing.

They carried on like this for a long time, and Zelkova and Kaede soon got a large amount of the city in.

They found a ladder that led to the rooftops in one alleyway, and when Zelkova mentioned it to her, Kaede agreed to go onto the rooftops despite the still raging battle.

As they went, they skimmed through the rooftops quickly, or rather, Zelkova was light on his feet, to the point that he had to stop sometimes to make sure Kaede didn't fall too far behind.

"Sorry," he had told her the first few times it happened, and on the fifth time, he went further, "I understand that I should slow down Kaede, but it troubles me to not get as many people to safety at once."

Kaede would look at him, her real life version of herself looking different only for the fact that her hair was longer.

She stared for a long moment, even as Zelkova looked away, eyes vigilant as he searched rapidly for more people, and she silently looked down, eyes flickering in sadness.

Who would think that such a child would remind her of her own...

She closed her eyes tightly, sighing to herself.

Stop thinking of that, she told herself, even if he does remind you of him...

She stood up straight, and looked up, seeing the Avatars still doing battle even though it'd been well over an hour then.

"Just how powerful are they in numbers?" She said, not really expecting an answer.

"Miss Kaede. I need to go help them." Zelkova said, and she looked at him in surprise.

"What?"

"I need to go and fight along with them." Zelkova repeated, and Kaede was caught so off guard she couldn't speak for a moment.

But then, "How will you help them Master Zelkova?"

"I have some powers in this PC that could be of severe help to them. So I need to go, it'd help even the odds."

"But..." Kaede saw the determination in his eyes, and she faltered in her composure, seeing that he wasn't going to be persuaded to do otherwise.

"..." Kaede looked down, "Alright Zelkova... just make sure to be safe..."

"Yes, Lady Kaede." Zelkova said, narrowing his eyes, blue flames covering his body.

He closed his eyes, concentrating further, speaking softly to himself, "Father... please forgive me for disobeying you. I'll try my best not to do this again, unless forced to by circumstance..." He opened his eyes, and he looked up as he started to levitate into the air, and spoke one phrase.

**Ao, Knight, Balmung**

The flames burst all over his body, and soon, he was left flying into the air, blue flames surrounding what looked like an Avatar yet was not, and Zelkova flew to the aid of Endrance, "Here, come on, I need more power, please Michael..." He spoke the being's name as he went.

Kaede watched him go, eyes not tearing off of him for a split second, only to reach out when he took off, trying in vain to stop him.

As he flew away from her, Kaede simply watched, feeling helpless as she couldn't help him at all.

Then her legs gave out on her, and she fell to the floor of the roof, yet eyes still glued to Zelkova.

And it was then that her vision blurred greatly, and she did nothing to stop the hot tears from coming out of her eyes.

And for the first time, ever since meeting Zelkova - the woman wept.

* * *

Haseo breathed heavily, golden eyes still narrowed, a trail of blood going down his face, his breath somewhat lost during the fight.

"Damn it..." Haseo slashed through more and more AIDA partciles, and they attacked him back, but in the numbers they were in, it was hard to dodge them in time.

He pushed himself further, and to the spectators, it looked as though Skeith was rushing into a group of particles, using his scythe to slash through them horizontally, the ones he hit dispersing.

Haseo eventually cursed as this entire process went on endlessly.

What the hell was making this happen?

Zelkova wasn't doing as well.

Even with the help of the Temptress Epitath, it was hard to fight very well.

The endless waves just kept coming.

And so, Zelkova had to go through another change in order to fight (**Ao, Warrior, Orca**) and to fight well.

Yet even with his second transformation ("Throne" was what it was called) any signs of the AIDA particles stopping seemed to be a rather invalid observation, with a better observation being that they were only keeping them at bay.

Every once in a while, Zelkova would spot an AIDA passing all the Epitaths and himself, going into town.

Without a second thought, Zelkova went and stopped it from going any further, depite the damage his body suffered because of doing that.

Soon, Zelkova could only afford to help with the battle in order to be of any benefit.

And some AIDA particles went in there regardless of this.

* * *

Alkaid burst through the doors then, breathing heavily, looking up at the sky and seeing the battle hapening overhead, looking closely at the black dots.

"Wait a minute... I remember those things..." Alkaid's eyes widened.

She'd seen them on that girl that PK'ed her right before she went into a coma!

But... what were they doing here?

As she looked closer, she could see the beings fighting them were in fact her party members, and they were losing.

When she looked at who the one with the bright light was, her eyes widened as she realized who it was, its hand holding its arm tightly for support, moving as though breathing heavily.

Haseo - !

_***b-bump***_

Alkaid clutched her neck suddenly, breathing picking up a bit, looking around, surprise evident in her expresion.

The hell...?

_***b-bump***_

She fell to her knees in pain, eyes wide as she did this, yelling out as she did this.

_***b-bump***_

_***b-bump***_

_***b-bump***_

"What the hell is... happening to me...?" She tried to froce herself to say.

_"You are simply awakening, empress."_ A voice she hadn't heard before spoke in a woman's voice.

"Who... Who's there?" Alkaid looked around warily, but saw no one.

_"I am your servant. You may call me Eu."_ The woman said, no emotion very tangible in her voice, _"It seems that you awaken whenever you or someone you care for is in danger. Let's try to help them, shall we?"_

_***b-bump***_

Alkaid groaned out in pain, falling down to her side, not being able to stand, and she closed her, pain soon too much to bear.

And then it stopped as suddenly as it had started.

Alkaid opened her eyes, breathing shakily, and now her eyes had become fully black again where there should've been white.

Dark blue dots started appearig around her, increasing then decreasing in size around her over and over again.

Her fingers still dug into the ground, the mud appearing in her hand being the thing that helped her to stand back up, although slowly.

When she managed to get on her left knee and right foot, brought down as though kneeling, Alkaid tried to further her ascent back at her feet, only to feel another pulse inside of her, making her stay there, her vision becoming like a negative hue and a breif sound of static accompanying the sight.

_"It's time to aid them, my empress."_ Eu's voice filled her ear once again.

The dots all vibrated in the air, before all hitting her body, Alkaid's eyes widening again.

Then she screamed, the dots suddenly covering her entire body, acting like something akin to full body armor in purpose.

_"Call upon my name empress, use me as your weapon."_ Eu's said, an earnest rmotion heard in her voice.

Again, Alkaid's fingers dug into the ground, and she spoke softly, "Damn it... what thehell is going on..."

_"Please empress, it's the only way to save your friends!"_ Eu's voice was urgent now, and Alkaid looked back up at raging battle.

Looked back up at the endless array of those black dots that they fought.

Looked back up to see her friends becoming worn out.

Looked back up, simply to see the strongest person she knew, Haseo, starting to get beaten...

She closed her eyes, head hanging as she spoke almost inaudibly, "**Eu**."

A computerized bell resounded in her ears when she said that, and an energy filled her body, the armor of dots resonating against her body.

Then they completely covered her, even her eyes, and Alkaid was blinded for a moment before they entered her body again.

For a second, she felt nothing.

Then a dark blue light exploded from her body, Alkaid screaming out loudly in surprise to this, thrusting back her head enough to get her fingers to touch the ground, chest hanging up towards the sky, head hanging back as much as possible.

It encased her whole body, forming an outline on her, before becoming a light bright enough to blind some of the people simply watching her.

When the light died down, Alkaid's appearance had changed.

She wore a red sleeveless hooded jacket, a black mid-riff tank tank top, and her regular pants and sandles, a mark appearing on her stomach, something like an "8" that had an extra tail that started off at the top right side of it and curving towards the left side, and the same happening for the bottom left, only it curved more to right side of its bottom.

The blue dots appeared around her body, changing sizes several times, eyes looking up as she witnessed the battle again, red hair returning, her sole white bang being brushed aside her face as she did this, eyes set as they returned to normal.

"What do I do now?"

_"Allow me, my empress." _Eu said.

The dots reverbrated even faster now, and Alkaid hugged herself tightly, before screaming out, her voice returning to that height of a banshee.

* * *

Haseo meanwhile had only slashed through yet another AIDA before getting hit again by them.

He cursed.

Damn it, why the hell were they coming so much?

When a scream pierced his ears, Haseo covered them in pain, then very quickly refocused on the AIDA that was before him...

...only to see it become black dots again before completely dispersing, bright green and blue dots shooting past him, and as he turned, he saw it going to the source of the scream.

Alkaid.

As he saw the blue dots surrounding her, all he Virus Cores went into her.

Then she spoke, lifting up her hand towards each one of them.

Out of her hand went several Virus Cores, and by the time she reached him, Haseo could see a smile on her face as he stared at her in surprise.

And finally, he got his own Virus Cores.

Seeing no reason to keep using his Avatar, Haseo floated down, Skeith following him, the Phase of Moreganna disappearing when he reached the ground.

Then he ran to Alkaid, seeing her collapse to the ground again, hair and eyes returning to normal but everyhing else remaining the same, uncaring of the fact that his feet hurt as he had no shoes, reaching Alkaid and immediately kneeling down, scooping her up in his arms, seeing her hair returning to the normal brown it once was.

* * *

Alkaid would wake up several minutes later, looking around as she noticed she was in the hotel again, sitting in the chair in one of her rooms.

"I see you're finally awake." Haseo said, turning to her.

She looked up at him, and she asked him a question that caught him slightly by surprise, "What happened?"

"That was actually what I wanted to ask you." Haseo admitted honestly.

"I only remember seeing you guys fighting those dot things before I got knocked out myself. Not sure what happened after that." Alkaid said honestly, head resting on the wall.

"...Alright then. You guys rest up." Haseo said, walking towards the door.

He'd only just opened it up when Alkaid questioned, "'You guys'?"

He turned back to her, then pointed a thumb to the wall opposite of her.

She looked, seeing the shower room, only then noticing then the sounds of it running.

She remembered who her roommate was, and Alkaid smiled.

Atoli.

She looked back at Haseo, "Nice outift. Not sure how you got it but still." Alkaid said, looking at red symbol that resembled Skeith's wand on his back.

"Not sure if I can fully enjoy it until I'm able to actually buy some shoes for it." Haseo deadpanned, scowling somewhat, walking out then, "See you tomorrow." He shut the door behind him.

If only Haseo knew how wrong that statement was.

* * *

Alkaid crept into Haseo's room a half hour after everyone went to sleep, walking into the bed and being able to see Haseo on the bed, the room currently with only them in it apparently.

Alkaid lifted the covers up, slowly sliding her way against Haseo's back again, arms snaking around him.

"Yes Alkaid?" Haseo said suddenly, and Alkaid wondered how he knew it was her when he'd been mostly under the covers the whole time.

"How did you know it was me?"

Haseo turned to her fully, looking with his left hand being like a pillow to him, "You're the only person who'd do this, especially now."

She pouted, "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Haseo looked at her for a long time, then sighed, "So long as you don't tease Atoli about it later, alright." He knew very deep down that there was no way for that to happen.

The pattern had been formed already, and she still found amusement in it.

A note from his psychology class: Unless the desired result is not met, a person will never change a bad habit if it benefits them.

Alkaid smiled, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Haseo turned away.

Alkaid wrapped an arm around him again, "Hey Haseo?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll teach you which emotions are which. Is that okay?"

"I know some emotions. Just not things like whether I love someone or not, or things like that."

Alkaid leaned over, looking over him, and Haseo looked back a moment later, "What?"

"Haseo, could you do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is." Haseo said, a part that was larger than he was willing to admit bracing itself for the worst.

"Tell me how this feels." Alkaid looked at him for another moment, staring silently.

"...it feels... weird. Why do you-" Haseo was cut off by Alkaid ramming her lips right onto his.

She moved herself, and she lay on top of him, pressing her lips deeper against his.

Haseo felt himself freeze up at this, unaware of the fact that Alkaid had opened her menu up, and she selected one option in the armor list.

_Remove all Armor._

Her clothes all disappeared in glass fragments, and Alkaid lifted herself up, hands on his chest staring down with the same mischievous smile she would give him sometimes, though it was marred with the blush on her cheeks.

Then she leaned down again, just on top of him but holding herself up, grasping his hand and pressing it against her breast, making Haseo visibly go red, then leaning down right next to his ear, "If I told you I'd let you go as far as you wanted with me, just how far would you go?"

Haseo responded by very roughly flipping them over, gripping her wrists to keep her from doing anything.

Alkaid simply looked back at up at his scowl with a light smile of her own, "How do you feel now?"

He closed his eyes, "Embarassed in a weird way..."

"You're flustered right now then." She smiled, "That's good, it'll give me more oppurtunities to have some fun with you."

He scowled more deeply in response.

"Alright Haseo, I just wanted to experiment a bit with you." Alkaid said, "You can let go of me... unless of course you DO want to do whatever you want to me..."

Haseo got off of her very quickly, throwing the blanket over her.

"Get some sleep." He said in a monotone.

Alkaid came up from under the cover next moment, fully clothed again, "Don't get so mad. I'm just messing with you as usual."

She got up and stood next to him, "But I can't help but wonder how you feel towards anyone if you don't know what it feels like to love someone."

"I care about everyone. Isn't that enough?" Haseo put his hands in his pockets, looking down.

"Not for Atoli, it isn't." Haseo scowled again, "And not for me either."

"Why do you always like to do this?" He brought a hand up to his head.

"Because I'm in love with you, you idiot." Alkaid bonked him on the head.

Haseo would look over to her to see that she was blushing.

He sighed again, "Fine. Tell me how it feels then."

"What?"

"To love someone."

Alkaid looked down in thought, then let her shoulders sag in defeat, "It's... pretty hard to describe..."

Haseo sighed as well, "Then don't get on me about that type of thing."

"It's just a completely confusing thing to feel..."

"Fine. Never mind."

Alkaid looked at Haseo helplessly, then hugged him.

"I know you care about us. It's just that some of us want you to feel more Haseo."

Haseo looked, then hugged back after a moment, sighing to himself.

How the hell did this even happen?

"Look, Alkaid..." Haseo looked down at the girl, "It's not that I don't care about you, but the past few months have been a complete cluster of things..."

"Then let me-"

She stopped when she heard the door opening behind them.

Silabus only took a quick look in, saw the position the two were in, then curtly apologized, shutting the door behind himself.

The boy in college knew what most guys did when they brought girls to their bedroom.

Silabus sighed.

He just hoped he didn't catch Kuhn's "disease"...

He walked away, telling himself he'd go to Gaspard's room.

* * *

Haseo looked at the door, then slowly pulled away rom Alkaid, her doing the same after a moment.

"..." Haseo held a hand at his hip and the other on his head scratching his hair sheepishly.

"..." Alkaid looked away, blushing faintly.

"...Rest Alkaid." Haseo said, walking to the chair in the room.

Alkaid followed him, and he didn't notice until he was seated, and in that moment, Alkaid jumped on him, sitting on his lap, cuddling up to him playfully.

Haseo stared in surprise, then looked at the girl in an exasperated way, "You'll never stop, will you?"

Alkaid responded by kissing him again, then finally pulling away, pink in the cheeks still.

"No. But I'll let you go for now. I'm sure you're tired." Alkaid left then, saying good night, then going back to her room.

Haseo stared after the door, then looked down in thought.

Even if she didn't remember, Haseo still wondered about what exactly happened with Alkaid just when she'd beaten the AIDA particles, despite all the Epitath Users and Zelkova being present and fighting to their best ability.

And... how the hell did AIDA get there to begin with?

He sighed to himself, laying on his bed.

Why couldn't anything be simple?

He knew that the answer would never be given to him. And so he went to sleep.

* * *

A/N: If there's a bunch of errors in here, then forgive me.

I wrote this in the span of two hours, so just bear with me.


End file.
